Runaway
by Lalilala
Summary: A mysterious tape is sent to Kate's mother, 4 years after her daughter's death and she turns to Tony for help. Is Kate still alive? Will Tony be able to solve the mystery by himself and come out unaffected?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N**: This is my new fic. I know I should probably finish "Parallel Universe" first, but I started writing this during one of my classes, just out of boredom, and I kinda liked the idea. I hope you'll like it too and will give me some feedback!! _

_Also, Valentine's Day is coming up... Wonder if I should write my first one-shot fic..._

_**Disclaimer**: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters._

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The phone rang in the bullpen. Tony looked at it, uncertain if taking the call or not. It was 5.40 PM on a Friday night and he was really looking forward having a relaxing yet fun weekend. He knew that getting a new case at the time, on a Friday, meant giving up on his two planned following days. He felt like he hadn't had a completely free weekend in ages.

The phone rang for the fourth time; the committed special agent part of Tony DiNozzo finally kicked in, and the man decided to pick it up.

"NCIS. Special Agent DiNozzo."

On the other end of the line nobody spoke for a while.

"Hello, is this Anthony, Anthony DiNozzo?" a female voice spoke with a feeble and slightly shaky voice.

"Yes mam', what can I do for you?"

There was a small pause and then the woman spoke again.

"I am Laura. Laura Todd."

Tony just stood there, pondering why that name sort of rang a bell in his mind.

The voice on the other side of the line sighed deeply, before explaining.

"Caitlyn Todd is… _was_ my daughter."

Tony closed his eyes for a few seconds, registering the information; it had been a while since he last heard that name out loud.

"Mrs. Todd… How may I help you?"

"Well, you know Caitlyn – _Kate_ – she hated when I called her Caitlyn," she paused as she was reminiscing something, "anyway, she always told me I should have called you or Agent Gibbs, if something happened…"

Tony shivered unconsciously.

"Of course, Mrs. Todd. What happened?"

"I got a tape… Well, someone sent a tape addressed to me this morning and they're asking for ransom…"

She paused, unsure of how to explain the situation.

"Are they holding hostage someone of your family?"

"Yes…"

Tony felt the pain in her voice; it was heartbreaking.

"In the tape... You know, it's dated November 13, just two days ago. I know how easy is to make these things up with today's technology. I mean, I know and I accepted the fact that she's dead and this is just a cruel prank that fate is playing on us..."

Tony listened at her carefully. She definitely couldn't mask her insecure tone like Kate could. He was almost afraid of asking the question he knew he had to ask.

"Who's in the tape, Mrs. Todd?"

He heard the woman sighing loudly on the other end of the line.

"It's Caitlyn. She's on the tape and there's a guy next to her, pointing a gun at her head and saying he wants $ 500,000 by the end of the week or he's going to kill her."

In that moment Tony was glad he was the only one in the bullpen, because what he just heard made him literally stumble and fall from his standing position next to his desk to the side of the drawer holding all his files.

"Mrs. Todd, I will need the tape for our technicians to analyze and also I will need a list of people that might be holding a grudge against your family. The tape must have been or made before Kate's... death, or it's a just very well made fake. Our forensic team here at NCIS will be able to verify that and give us some answers in no time."

"Agent DiNozzo…"

"Please, call me Tony."

"Tony, in the tape, it was specified not to alert the authorities. I was hoping you could help me out and keeping this between us… I haven't told my husband or my children."

Tony sighed. He couldn't keep this hidden from Gibbs.

The woman continued.

"My husband's heart couldn't stand this. He was already devastated by Kate's death. And I know that if cops are involved I won't be able to hide it from him anymore. Please."

Tony understood her situation and decided to act impulsively and follow his gut feeling. He owed it to Kate.

"Okay, Mrs. Todd. I will take the next flight to Indianapolis. I will be there later tonight."

"Thank you so much, Tony. I really appreciate your kindness and I am sure Caitlyn would have appreciated it too. You are of course welcome to stay at our place and I will make sure to cover all of your travel expenses..."

Tony couldn't help but hearing the incredible amount of pain in the woman's voice every time she mentioned Kate's name. He felt the same every time he heard it. Four years had gone by since she was murdered; very few things had stayed the same. Life had forced them all to move on.

"Mrs. Todd, I am grateful, but you really don't need to do all of this. Kate was a dear friend of mine and I am sure she would have done the same for me."

"I insist, Tony. I will set up a room for you."

Tony politely accepted Mrs. Todd offer to stay at their place and proceeded to book a flight to Indiana. He thought he wouldn't have had any reason to visit that state again after Kate's death, but he had been wrong.

He left the NCIS headquarters a few minutes later, after absentily gathering his stuff, skillfully avoiding his teammates. He drove to his place in autopilot. After packing a few clothes, enough for the entire weekend, he took a taxi to the airport, trying to prepare himself mentally for the emotional trip he was going to face during the next few days.

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R&R, please!!!


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N**: Here's the second chapter... R&R, please!!!_

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Tony knocked on the big brown door of the house. It was a very pretty house, Queen-Anne style, in the middle of a suburban area slightly outside of the city. He felt uneasy thinking that he was about to enter the place where Kate had grown up, almost like he was invading her privacy.

A woman in her late fifties opened the door and gave him a weak smile. Tony noticed the uncanny similarity with Kate and his gaze dropped to the floor, almost as to stop the many memories that started filling his mind.

The woman shook his hand inviting him in.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Todd."

The woman nodded slightly.

"Call me Laura."

Even thought a smiled played her features, her tone was flat, like she was drained from anything that she felt. Tony couldn't blame her; she had lost a daughter, after all.

As Tony dragged his small suitcase across the living room, she took a moment to study his actions. She was no profiler, but she noticed how cautious he was with every movement he made. He looked like he was walking in a temple; discreetly and almost afraid of spoiling something perfect and untouchable.

"I set up a bed for you in Caitlyn's old room."

Tony felt uncomfortable at the thought of having to sleep in Kate's old room, but he nodded at Laura and followed her into the room, up the stairs.

As he walked into the bedroom, he shivered. He knew he was probably imagining things, but he felt like he could still breathe Kate's scent.

Laura Todd left the tape she had received the same morning on the desk near the door before showing Tony where the restroom was. She then walked out of the room wishing Tony a goodnight.

As she left, Tony took his time to examine the surroundings. He saw a few old pictures of Kate. In one she was probably about 8, holding a trophy while fiercely posing between two other girls after what obviously was a figure ice skating competition that she had won, in another one she was posing with her prom date, in front of a white limo. Other pictures portraying her with various members of her family and various guys, who Tony assumed had been her various boyfriends during her high school and college years, were framed all around the room. He grinned noticing that in all the pictures until her late teen years, Kate didn't have the usual chestnut brown hair he had always seen her with, but a rather light hazelnut blond. Kate Todd was a blond!

There were also a few posters hanging on the walls. He smiled as he spotted the poster of "From dusk till dawn" and another one of "Reservoir Dogs".

After taking a quick shower, he decided to take a look at the tape that had been sent to Laura Todd. He took a deep breath and he inserted it into the VHS player, turning on the TV. The images were blurry at the beginning. It was in black and white. Very noir of them, he thought.

As Laura Todd told him, at the margin of the video there was a date indicating that the video had been shot just a few days before.

A guy wearing a balaclava appeared from behind the camera, holding a gun and walking towards the hostage that was situated a few feet behind. As the focus got on the hostage Tony's eyes widened. The woman could have easily passed as Kate's twin. She was tied up to a chair, a big piece of duct tape covering her mouth, rage in her eyes.

"I have Caitlyn Leigh Todd here as hostage. If I won't get $500,000 by the end of the week I'll proceed to kill her. I am not joking. You can see she's still alive right now, but if the money won't be wired in the account I set up overseas she's dead. Try to alert the authorities and she's dead as well. Get it?"

The guy spoke with a slightly unsure tone that made him sound very nervous. He didn't even made the effort to buy himself a voice disguising software, which made Tony believe he was just an amateur or just very stupid.

"Tell them, Caitlyn."

He took the tape off her mouth with a violent snatch. She tried to free her hands and yelled at the man who looked honestly scared.

"You better enjoy this moment, you bastard, because you will be the one tied up in this chair soon!"

The man took another piece of duct tape and proceeded to put it on her mouth once again, not before being bitten quite a few times by a very angry hostage. Tony smiled at her reaction; really in Kate's style. But that wasn't Kate. That thought made him lose the smile.

The video went black. Tony switched the TV off and took a closer look at the tape first, and then he focused on the envelope it had been shipped in. The postage stamps indicated that it had been shipped from Trenton, New Jersey. There was a piece of paper inside. He put on a pair of gloves and carefully unfolded it. He examined it. The coordinates of an account situated in Switzerland were written with green ink. He didn't know much about computers, but he was sure that if really worked on it, he could have traced the owner of the account through the NCIS database.

He sat down on the bed and almost unconsciously took one of the pillows in his hands, brought it to his face and breathed deeply, as wanting to inhale all the was left of Kate's perfume. It was a silly act, but his vivid imagination could almost picture a young Kate contently sleeping on that very bed, unaware of what her future held dreaming hopeful and maybe naïve dreams.

He feel asleep smiling and allowing his mind for the first time in a long time to drift towards those memories that for so long he had repressed somewhere deep inside his head.

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R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: _I wrote this and the next chapter during Valentine's day, with a pretty bad hangover and after watching "reservoir dogs", so I apologize if you might think that some things do not really make sense. I hope you'll enjoy anyway._

_Reviews are always appreciated!_

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The noise of a car leaving the driveway woke Tony up. It was barely 6.30 in the morning. He yawned loudly as he opened his eyes and looked around, still sleepy, trying to remember where he was. As his eyes met the ones of a young Kate Todd's portrait, he remembered he was in her childhood home in Indiana to investigate on a mysterious tape Mrs. Todd had received the previous day.

He quickly put on some clothes and left the room, tape in his hand, heading towards the kitchen.

He was surprised to see Laura Todd already awake, unloading the dishwasher and at the same time cooking some eggs and bacon for breakfast.

"Good morning, Tony."

From her face and her concerned voice, Tony assumed she didn't have a good night rest. He nodded back at her, smiling.

"I hope you like eggs and bacon. You know, Caitlin never ate any of these things and I don't know if healthy eating habits are a general agent thing or it was just hers…"

She smiled at him while placing some eggs and bacon on a plate and offering it to him, who gladly accepted.

"I do love bacon and eggs."

Laura Todd sat down across the table from Tony and looked at him. She wondered how close he had been to Kate. Were they just colleagues? Friends? Or maybe even something more? She had never have a very close relationship with her daughter, especially after she had moved out right after high school and she had never been up to date on her love life. She just randomly got news from her oldest son, Josh, who was the only member of the family Kate was close to. She hadn't been the biggest fan of her career choice, and neither had been her husband. They both had been pushing her to become a lawyer, but she was too stubborn to do as told.

Tony quietly observed the woman sitting in front of him, noticing the similarities between her and Kate. She was very slender and very composed. Her hair was light brown, shoulder length and slightly wavy. Her eyes were bright green though, as opposed as Kate's hazel ones. Even thought he had seen her during the funeral, over four years back, he didn't notice how much of Kate she had in her. He wondered where Mr. Todd was. He assumed he was the one who had left early in the morning, maybe to go to work.

The woman suddenly interrupted the comfortable silence between her and Tony.

"You know, Caitlin never liked it here in Indiana. She wanted to travel the world and move somewhere else. She was always up for an adventure."

Tony nodded silently as encouraging her to go on.

"She was really popular during high school. She was the prom queen, but she never really cared about any of these things. She just wanted to leave. She was still wearing her graduation gown when she hopped into her car and drove all the way to Washington. You know, she had got a summer internship there and she had been admitted to Georgetown. She wanted to major in Psychology but we really pushed her into Political Science – Pre Law, so she compromised by double majoring. We rarely heard from her during her college years, and she rarely came back home for the holidays. She always preferred traveling with her friends somewhere far away from us."

Tony noticed her voice was shaky. She had obviously been hurt by Kate's choice to keep distance from the rest of her family.

"After she graduated she came home for a few days. She told me she was planning on moving to California. She never told me why, but she told the reason to her brother, Josh. He told me why only a few years ago. Apparently she had met this great guy while she was in Mexico with her sorority sisters. He was almost 10 years older than her and was an aspiring actor in Los Angeles. He talked her into move in with him. So she did, and she got into Law School at USC. I don't really know what happened, but only one year after she moved out there, she decided to move back to DC and apply for a job in Law Enforcement."

The woman paused and bit her lower lip. After taking a sip of orange juice she started talking again.

"She never really gave us news on what was going on in her life. We only got to know about her job when something bad happened, like during the terrorist attack while she was protecting the President or when, well… when she passed…"

Tony looked at the woman who was now holding her head with her hands and silently crying.

"Kate was a brilliant agent. She loved her job at NCIS and we all loved her. She left a big void."

He stood up and walked around the table, resting his hand on Laura's shoulder.

"She had a big heart. I am sure she loved you all, even if she couldn't always show it."

Laura Todd gave him a weak yet thankful smile.

"Did you find anything? I mean, about the tape…"

"I will need to check something on my laptop. I think the account number he wrote down on the piece of paper might be a good lead. At least we will know who's the person behind this prank and if he's working for someone."

"I am going to run some errands. If you need anything, here's my cell phone number."

As Laura Todd left, Tony decided to call Abby to ask for help. He wasn't going to tell her why he needed her, but he knew the goth was the only one who he could have counted on in that particular situation. He felt sorry for somehow breaking his promise to Laura and not keep the entire situation to himself, but with Abby's help things would have been a whole lot faster.

Abby promptly picked up the phone.

"Tony! Why are you calling me so early on a Saturday morning? Do I have to get to HQ?"

Tony smiled at her hyper tone, wondering how she could be so full of energy at that time of the morning, on a weekend day.

"Abby, I need your help. Can you please give me the name of an account owner? I have the coordinates here…"

The forensic scientist mumbled something on the other side of the line that Tony wasn't quite able to understand.

"Tony, why do you need me to do that?"

Tony sighed. He knew this was going to be hard, given Abby's natural curiosity.

"Listen Abs, I can't really tell you about this but it's really important and I really need you to help me out here. Please."

After giving it a few seconds of thought, Abby decided to help Tony out.

"Okay. Give me the coordinates of the account."

After about half an hour, Tony had a name and an address.

"Thank you so much, Abs."

As he hung up the phone, he started typing the newfound name on the NCIS database.

Elliott Partridge, 31. Clean record.

He decided he needed to check on this guy himself, so after booking a flight to Philadelphia he headed back to Kate's old bedroom to pack his things up.

Waiting for Laura Todd to come back, he decided to take a look around the lower floor of the house. Entering the living room, he couldn't help but noticing how neat it was. It looked like nobody really lived in there. There was furniture, there were pictures, but it felt empty. There was a piano and a picture of a red-haired girl on it. He assumed her to be Kate's sister. Other pictures were hanging on the walls, mostly were family portraits and old pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Todd. They looked like a normal, slightly more conservative than average, middle class family.

While he was looking through the various photos, Laura quietly entered the room and smiled. She was impressed by how that man seemed to genuinely care. As she cleared her throat to make her presence noticed, Tony turned around. He was relieved to see that the woman didn't look upset by his looking around.

"I found a lead. I am booked on the 3 PM flight to Philadelphia."

Laura nodded gratefully at Tony.

"I'll give you a ride to the airport."

Tony lifted his bag and followed Laura to her car. The drive was silent but not uncomfortable. Both of them were in fact lost in thoughts. As Laura parked the car in front of the terminal, she hesitated a few seconds before taking out a small tin box with the word 'NCIS' written on the upper right corner, and handing it to Tony.

"Josh found it in her apartment. It's locked and we've never opened it. I think you should keep it. See what's inside."

Tony gave the woman a questioning look. It didn't feel right to him to have something that belonged to Kate and that she obviously cared enough about to lock it.

Laura sensed Tony's hesitation in taking the small box, but insisted.

"I know she would have rather you to keep it."

Tony nodded slightly, finally accepting the box and placing it in his suitcase, and extended a hand to Laura, who took it and shook it.

"Thank you, Tony. Please, keep me informed. I… I need to know why someone who'd be doing such a thing to us. Like we hadn't been through a lot already…"

"I will give you a call as soon as I'll know something more, Laura."

"You're a good man."

Tony walked towards the automatic doors and turned around to wave at Laura, who had just got back into her car and was waving at him as well.

He took a deep breath and proceeded to check in. So much for a relaxing weekend, he thought.

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R&R!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**:_ fourth chapter... Give me some feedback on this one! I have doubts about it!! thanks!_

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After landing at the Philadelphia International Airport, Tony rented a car and headed to Trenton. It wasn't a long drive, less than 40 miles. Driving, he wondered why an average guy from Trenton with and clean record and apparently no connection to the Todds would have sent what he assumed was a digitally modified tape, faking the kidnapping of a dead person and asking her family for ransom in exchange for her freedom. It didn't make sense to him. No sane person would pay the ransom to get back a family member who had been buried several years aback. He shook his head, not really knowing of what to do of the information he had gathered so far.

He followed the directions the GPS was giving him and as he got closer to the destination point, he got more and more nervous. He felt his heart rate increasing and his hands getting colder. What scared him was that he didn't know what to expect.

As he reached his destination he noticed that the area around was uncharacteristically isolated. It looked more like a warehouse than a real house. There was only one window on the top floor and the main entrance was locked by a massive chain kept together by an as equally massive padlock.

He got off his car and took his knife out of his pocket, easily unlocking the padlock. He drew his sig sauer walking in the dark towards the dim light that was coming from under a door a few feet away. He approached the door and slammed it open.

"Federal Agent! Freeze!"

As he yelled so, he took the time to take a better look around and saw a man tied up to a chair, terror in his eyes.

Another voice came from the other side of the room that was covered in dark since the small light bulb hanging from the ceiling wasn't strong enough to light the whole place up.

"Drop your weapon!"

Tony tried to think about what to do. He had a hostage situation and no back up and an armed person was telling him to drop his weapon. He cursed at himself for not thinking about calling the local cops before breaking in.

"I said, drop your weapon or I'll shoot!"

The voice was strong and steady, and Tony could feel that he would have really got shot if he didn't do as told. He tried to figure out a way to talk his way out of the situation.

Even though the person holding the gun wasn't still under the light, he could now see the silhouette. It was a woman.

"Listen, I am a federal agent. If you shoot me you will probably get locked in jail for life. So lets make a deal…"

As he kept talking, the woman stepped closer, out of the dark, and they both had the chance to look at their opponent's face.

Tony's jaw dropped as he recognized her and he automatically lowered his gun.

"Kate…"

Her face mirrored Tony's, but she still managed to hold her gun, ready to fire.

"Kate… is this you? What's going on?"

"I am going to say this one more time, DiNozzo. Drop your weapon."

Tony looked like he had forgotten he was holding a gun at all. His arms were hanging on his sides and his hands weren't even responding properly to his brain's orders. Shaking himself out of his shocked state, he did as told and put his gun on the floor and his hands in the air.

He stood there, not knowing what to do. He wondered who that woman was. It couldn't be Kate, could it? But she knew his name… Kate was dead, though, so who was she?

The woman quickly walked in his direction and picked up his gun, her eyes never leaving his. She put one of the guns in her belt holster and after looking at Tony in the eyes for a few more seconds she handed his gun back to him.

"How did you find me, Tony?"

Tony was speechless. Was that woman really Kate?

"DiNozzo, did you lose your proverbial loquacity?"

She liked to tease him, she always did. She knew that he, like everybody else at NCIS, wasn't supposed to know she was still alive, but the damage was done and she didn't feel sorry about it.

It was good to finally see a familiar face, after so long.

"Kate… You died."

He couldn't bring himself to say anything coherent. He wanted her to prove him that she was the real Kate; he wanted to tell her he was glad to see her again – still alive; he wanted to tell her that he had missed her; he wanted to ask her what the hell had happened to her and where she had been for all that time. But the words just didn't make it to his mouth.

Kate gave him a heartfelt smile before standing on her tiptoes and placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Hey. I think we have some catch up to do…"

Her tone was soft and understanding. Tony felt his strengths coming back to him as she kept smiling at him. He finally smiled back.

"Why are you here, Kate? Who's the guy tied up to the chair?"

Kate turned around. She had completely forgot about that guy.

"Oh, him… Well, apparently someone told him to temporarily 'take care' of me and he thought it would have been a good idea to get some cash out of it. He's a newbie. It took me less than 1 hour to untied myself and surprise him with his own gun while he was sound asleep. I want to know who he is working for, though."

Tony nodded.

"You know who originally kidnapped you?"

Kate shook her head closing her eyes for a brief moment.

"I assume it was some terroristic cell that wanted to get some information out of me. Maybe they had to lay low for a while. I think they might have chosen this guy to keep an eye on me out of desperation."

Tony listened to her talking and finally took the time to take a good look at her. Her hair was wavy and dark blond reaching the middle of her back. She was slimmer – too slim, he noticed -- wearing black shorts and a white tank top despite the cold weather. He noticed the bruises on her legs and on her arms, assuming she had been fighting a lot lately. The sign of tight ropes were still visible on her wrists. He couldn't stop a huge grin to spread on his face.

"You kind of remind of Lara Croft…"

She caught his mischievous tone, but to his surprise, instead of elbowing him in the stomach like she had done many times before, she grinned back.

"I'm as dangerous as she is…"

That said, she focused once again on her prisoner, pulling a knife out of her thigh holster and slightly teasing his throat with it.

"So, Elliott, are you going to speak or do I have to persuade you by threatening to cut one of your fingers?"

Tony looked at her with wide eyes. He could see how close the knife she was holding was to slit the man's throat and how realistic her threats sounded. He wondered if she was really able to cut one of his fingers off in order to get some information out of him. His eyes met hers for a split of second, and in that moment he realized that she wasn't going to hurt the man.

Kate hated playing the villain. Sure the guy was working for someone who was holding her captive, but he was just another puppet in their big and elaborated puppet theatre. She wasn't aiming to the puppets; she wanted the puppet master's head. She had no intentions to hurt that man in any way, she just wanted a name and she knew that he was going to crack. It was just a matter of minutes. He was weak.

"I don't know his real name! The people who worked with him kept calling him Pejman, but he never introduced himself! That's all I know, I swear!"

She smirked at how easy it had been to make him spill what he knew.

The man was now sobbing and trembling like a child, not even trying to free his hands. With a fast move, she cut the ropes that were tying the man to the chair.

"You're free to go. You better never cross my path again."

As the man ran towards the front door she put her knife back in the holster and turn around to face Tony again.

"Lets get outta here"

He nodded and handed her his jacket. His gesture made her smile and raise an eye brown, teasingly.

"Are you actually being a gentleman, DiNozzo?"

Tony let out a small laugh.

"Katie, Katie… Old habits die hard."

She shook her head at his calling her 'Katie' but accepted his jacket. As they reached the rental car, Tony looked at Kate with questioning eyes.

"Where are we heading?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders. She had been overseas for years and she had just recently got back to the States – as a hostage. She didn't really have a place to go.

He decided to head to the closest hotel. He needed to sleep, eat and take a relaxing shower, and he was pretty sure she needed those things as well. He could have bet that she didn't have a proper sleep in a long time.

Shivering because of the cold, he noticed that even though it was barely 38 degrees outside, and Kate was pretty much wearing summer attire, she didn't seem to mind the low temperature. He was concerned about her health. She looked like she could definitely use a few hamburgers.

"Aren't you cold?"

She softly smiled at his concerned tone.

"I am, but I am well trained."

Tony raised an eye brown, thinking about her former Secret Service job and wondering since when they started to provide such an extreme training. Then he asked.

"What training are you talking about?"

Her face suddenly became dark as she ran a hand through her long hair. She sighed deeply before answering.

"Mossad."

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R&R!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N**: I am sick in NYC. This pretty much explains the frequent updates. I wish I could update my other fic ('Parallel Universe') as well, but all the saved files are in my flash drive, which is currently at my friend's place. Hopefully I'll get it back by the end of the week._

_I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Please, leave some feedback!!_

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Tony got out of the bathroom after taking a shower, wearing a tee and a pair of boxers. He found Kate in front of the big mirror hanging on the wall, next to her bed. She was intently examining her reflection poking at the bruises that were still visible on her slender legs. She was currently wearing one of Tony's pullovers, which was hanging loosely over her body, leaving one of her shoulders uncovered. She pretty much didn't have any clothes with her, except the ones she was wearing earlier. Being held captive and having a wardrobe full of clothes didn't match well; she knew that much.

She only had one bag with her. There were no clothes inside, but there was all she needed: weapons. Her thoughts we interrupted by a familiar voice.

"You need to eat something"

She turned around to see Tony looking at her. She shrugged her shoulders and tied her still wet hair up in a ponytail. She then pointed down at her naked legs.

"I need a pair of pants, first."

Tony let out a small laugh; she had a point. He looked into his suitcase and took out a pair of sweatpants that he usually wore to bed, and handed them to her.

"Try these on. They won't be very fitting, but they will work for now."

She smiled holding the pants by the hem. She was going to look like a clown, but she didn't really care.

Tony looked at her wearing his clothes, and grinned. They made her look even smaller than she already was. He shook his head at her pretended stern look. He could see it in her eyes that she was reading every single thought that crossed his mind.

"When was the last time you had a decent meal, Kate? You're almost as skinny as Nicole Richie."

She glared at him, reacting to his last comment.

"Tony, I've been held captive for the last four months. Believe me when I tell you that feeding their hostages is not the top priority of the average kidnapper."

He knew she wasn't really comfortable talking about what happened to her in the past four years, but he had to know. He saw her looking at him intently and he knew she was already expecting the question he was going to ask her next.

"Kate, what happened to you?"

She gave him a sad smile, knowing that she owed him an explanation. She decided to tell him the major events, leaving out those parts that could still compromise the success of her mission. She didn't want to drag him into her troubles.

"When I was still working at NCIS I got a call from the director of Mossad, who offered me an undercover job. It wasn't really an offer; it was more of an obligation. It was that or my life. They knew Ari was after me and they offered me a chance out of it. Nobody had to know I was affiliate with Mossad, so they decided to fake my death. I didn't know that was their plan until it was already done. I thought it would have been just a temporary arrangement, actually. I can only remember going to bed in my apartment in Washington and waking up in a dump in Tel Aviv. Someone inside of NCIS knew I was still alive, because they classified my file so that nobody, not even me, could access it. One day I was NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd and the next I was Rebecca Falk, a Mossad Spy."

Tony's eyes widened while so many questions filled his head. Why Kate? He didn't want to interrupt her, though, and let her go on with her story.

"They trained me; trained me to kill, trained me to threat, trained me to infiltrate terrorist cells and destroy them from the inside. I haven't kept one identity more than a week. It became a routine. The first year I hoped you guys would find out I was still alive and took me away from that life, but as time passed, I slowly lost hopes. I had no way to contact you or anyone from my old life without compromising my missions and my safety. The Israeli Intelligence never let me out of their eyesight, not even when they sent me as a mole. They didn't trust me completely. They knew I wanted out but they wanted me to keep profiling and killing for them. Profiling and killing: that's what I've been up to for the past four years."

She sighed, distractedly playing with her hair.

"Then, four months ago, while I was undercover in Turkey, I made a mistake. Another Mossad officer was undercover with me to gather details about an Al Qaeda operation. I was ordered by one of the head of the cell to kill him, but I didn't have the heart to do that, so I let him go. It turned out he was a mole that Al Qaeda sent into Mossad. They suspected I was a double agent, but until that moment they didn't have any real proof. As they got to knew who I really was, they decided that killing me wouldn't have been smart since I had so many information that they could use against Israel and the US, so they decided to held me captive. The used me as an exchange object between the various terrorist cells, but I never let out anything that could compromise national security. They knew I knew more, though. That's why I am not really sure who exactly is after me right now, and what it is that they want. All I know is that they brought me back to the States because they were planning an attack – a bombing, but CIA was most likely hot on their heels and they had to go into hiding. That's why they left me with that slack. I have to track them down…"

Tony looked at her, noticing that her eyes had considerable darkened since she had started tell him that story. He wondered how much she had purposely left out to prevent him from feel sorry for her. He could tell that there was so much more than what she was telling him, but he knew that pushing her wouldn't have brought any good.

"Everything's gonna be fine, Kate. We'll drive back to Washington tomorrow and I bet Gibbs will know how to solve the case. I need to call your mother before, though."

As he attempted to grab his cell phone from the bedside table, she grabbed his wrist and squeezed it in her hand with a rapid movement. Tony sighed in pain, looking at her with questioning eyes.

"What do you think you're doing, DiNozzo?"

"Bringing you back home!"

She let out a sarcastic laugh letting go of his wrist.

"Tony, there's no way you're telling anyone else I am still alive. I cannot compromise this."

"So what do you suggest, Katie? Should I just go back to DC and pretend I don't know you're still in the land of the living?"

She turned to face him, taking his cell phone from the table.

"Tony, you go back to DC by yourself willingly or I'll have to use chloroform on you. Your choice."

Tony took his head in his hands. She couldn't be serious, could she? He didn't want to leave her to fight the bad guys by herself. Sure she was tough, but he knew that leaving her there was like pointing a gun to her temple and pulling the trigger.

"Lets make a deal, Kate. I am coming with you."

She raised an eyebrow at him almost mockingly. She didn't want to make a deal with him. She just wanted him to go and leave her with her troubles. She knew it was like a suicide mission, the one she was up to, and she didn't want him to risk his life as well. There was no way she would have let him do that.

"No way in hell, DiNozzo."

Tony sighed and let the subject drop. He knew that it was no use to argue with her at the moment, but he still had no intention of letting her go alone. He just needed to come up with a plan.

"Okay."

Relieved by the fact Tony didn't push the matter further, Kate walked up to his bed, sat right next to him and weakly smiled.

"Lets go have dinner. Lets enjoy the evening and not talk about this, okay?"

He playfully hit her on the shoulder and took her hand, leading her out of the room.

"We better go and get you some more appropriate clothes before we set foot in a restaurant!"

* * *

After a small shopping spree, during which Tony bought her a pair of black pants, a few shirts and sweaters, a jacket, a pair of flats and a pair of high heels and a little black dress that left little to the imagination and that according to her was totally unecessary, they headed to a small diner just a few blocks from their hotel and had dinner, since most of the restaurants in the small town were already closed.

It was already midnight when they got back to their room, tired but at the same time relaxed.

As Kate came out of the bathroom after a hot shower, ready to go to bed, she felt something wasn't right. Shivers ran down her spine. She looked at Tony, who was already asleep in his bed, and shook him awake.

"Tony, I think someone is watching us…"

Tony slowly stood up, reaching for his gun. Kate switched the lights off and slowly opened her bag. She stood next to Tony, both silently waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden she saw a small red dot on Tony's chest. She pushed him to the ground landing right on top of him just as a bullet found its way through the glass of the window. She then took a rifle from her bag and pointed it towards the spot where the shot had come from. She noticed a shadow running away, not further than 100 meters from the hotel.

She shot, but she didn't have the time to check if she had hit the target or not, because she felt hot liquid, that she quickly recognized as blood, on her knee. She checked herself to see if she was hurt. Not seeing any bullet wounds on her, she felt her hear rate increase and her eyes widening with terror as she looked down at Tony. She gently touched his wrist looking for a pulse and after finding one, she squeezed his hands to check if he was still conscious. When she felt his hand squeezing hers back, she sighed with relief.

"The bullet only grazed my arm."

She slowly reached the curtains and shut them close and then she dragged Tony into the bathroom to take a closer look at the wound.

It didn't look that bad, but she still needed to stitch it to stop the blood loss and she knew it was going to be painful.

"Tony, I need to stitch this, okay?"

He nodded gritting his teeth and noticed the concern in Kate's eyes as she delicately took care of his arm.

As she put a bandage on the gunshot wound and gave him an antibiotic tablet to prevent any infections, her eyes filled with tears. It had been long since she had cried, especially in front of someone. He saw her lips trembling and tears streaming down her face.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

She shook her head wiping the tears from her face with her hands, and then she washed her face, pretending that moment of weakness never happened. She helped Tony walk to his bed and gave him some painkillers, making sure there were no more shooters targeting them. She waited until he fell asleep and then took the keys of the car he had rented, placed a soft kiss on his forehead and sneaked out of the room, biting her lower lip to stop the tears from falling.

* * *

R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N**: the introduction to the last chapter is valid for this one as well :P  
_

_And again, I appreciate your feedback!_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

As Tony woke up the following morning, he felt the sharp pain in his left arm. He slowly stood up and swallowed the pain killers that Kate had placed on the bedside table the previous night. As his eyes wondered around the room he noticed that there was no sign of Kate. Everything that she owned was gone. He looked down to her bed table and saw a note written on the back of a receipt: '_I'm sorry_.' He noticed that the keys of his car were also gone. He let out a frustrated scream.

"FUCK!"

Gathering all his stuff and ignoring the pain in his arm as the painkillers had not kicked in yet, he walked out of the hotel, not even bothering to check out. He hopped on a taxi, heading to the car rental at the Philadelphia International Airport. As he reached the right terminal he handed the driver a $ 100 bill and ran towards the desk.

"Someone stole the car I rented yesterday. Do you have a GPS system to track it down? There are important work documents in the trunk."

The woman behind the desk looked at him almost scared.

"Sir, we have a GPS system, but I need to contact the manager first… Do you have the receipt of the rental?"

Tony was losing his patience. He didn't know at what time Kate had left the hotel, so he had no idea of how far she was. He decided to play the 'Federal Agent' card and showed the woman his badge along with the receipt of the rental.

"I am a Federal Agent. There are important documents in the car that in the wrong hands could compromise national security. I need you to track it down right now!"

The woman nodded and typed something on the keyboard of her computer, turning on the GPS device on the vehicle. It took a few moments for the computer to track the car and trace the coordinates.

Tony looked at the screen and saw that Kate was halfway through Pennsylvania. She wasn't that far, probably only 300 miles away. He assumed she had smartly respected the speed limits to avoid being pulled over while driving a stolen car.

"Is there a way I can receive the updated coordinates on my PDA?"

The woman nodded and wrote down a series of numbers and letters that Tony quickly inserted in its PDAs'. As he received the signal he grinned, taking his credit card out of his wallet.

"So… I'd like to rent a car."

* * *

He was driving as fast as he could, breaking all the laws of traffic. The dot on his PDA that indicated Kate's coordinates was blinking. He noticed that she hadn't moved for the past 30 minutes or so. He had to catch up with her. He had been driving for slightly over an hour and his left arm was starting to hurt again. Ignoring the pain, he kept driving mentally slapping himself for letting a sniper take a shot at him the previous night.

In less than three hours, he had reached the place where apparently Kate had stopped. It was a small town near Pittsburgh. He looked around the area, trying to spot the car she had run away with. He found it parked in the driveway of a small pink house. It looked like nobody lived there.

He carefully knocked on the door and when he got no answer he slowly forced his way in, using his knife. As soon as he got into the house, he felt the sharp and cold blade of a knife on his throat. Then he heard a sigh as the knife was brought away from him.

"Tony, what the hell!"

He laughed at her frustration, but then cried out in pain as she punched him on his good arm.

"What's wrong with you?! How did you track me down?"

She didn't need him to answer as she realized the mistake she had made by using his rental car, and slapped herself on the forehead.

Tony looked around and saw various pieces of newspapers, maps and headshots, pinned on the walls. He recognized at least five men that were on the FBI's most wanted list. He then looked at Kate who was still sternly glaring at him.

"Tony, why are you following me like a puppy dog? Go back to Washington."

He grinned.

"You know I've always enjoyed annoying you. This time is no exception."

She let out an exasperated scream and walked towards the kitchen, pouring a glass of water for herself and one for Tony, who gladly accepted it.

"So, whose place is this?"

"It was my aunt's. My brother sometimes comes here during spring. It's vacant for most of the year."

"So are you going to make your headquarters out of it?"

Kate shook her head.

"I just needed a place to spend the night so I could plan my next move."

"You mean our next move."

She walked towards him until they were just a few inches apart from each other.

"I meant what I said."

"Oh c'mon Katie! Everybody has a sidekick. Batman and Robin or Captain America and Bucky!"

Kate let out a small laugh against her will. She knew Tony was trying to help her but she couldn't grant her own safety, let alone his.

"Tony, please… It's something that I have to do alone."

Tony lost his playful tone, concern in his eyes.

"I can't leave you just like this, Kate."

She gave him a puzzled look as he stepped closer and looked at her straight in the eyes.

"We both know that if I let you go, you won't come out of this alive, and I cannot allow that. I'm your partner; we have each other's back."

Kate shook her head and walked away. She would have never admitted it out loud, but she couldn't resist his puppy dog eyes and she couldn't allow herself to go soft, especially not with Tony. Men like him were like quicksand to her.

Tony sensed her hesitation and followed her to the living room.

"Are you afraid I'll get killed?"

She closed her eyes as the question left his mouth, not knowing what to answer.

"You don't need to reply, I already know the answer. And you know why I know it? It's because it's the same for me. I fear the same for you."

Kate turned around to face him.

"You weren't supposed to know I was alive!"

"Well, too late for that, isn't it?"

"How did you even find me? Why now? Why after all these years?"

Tony looked at her softly. He still hadn't told her about the tape that had been sent to her family in Indiana.

"Your mother got the tape the guy made asking for ransom and called NCIS. I got the call and flew to Indiana. She asked me not to tell anybody else and I didn't. I found a lead that brought me to New Jersey. From then on, you know what happened…"

"So my family knows I'm alive?"

Tony shook his head and took another step towards her.

"No. Your mom was the only one who watched the tape. She thought it was a fake and so did I."

"Why did you even bother, then, if you all thought it was a fake?"

He sighed deeply and distractedly scratched the top of his head with his good arm.

"I flew to New Jersey because if there was even only one chance in a million that you were still alive, I wanted to be the first to know. I'm not letting you go this time. Not again."

Kate nodded, trying to ignore the closeness between their bodies and how that made her nervous. Running her hand through her hair she took a few steps back and then spoke.

"Okay. Lets try to work as a team. Consider yourself my probie."

That said, she ran up the stairs leaving Tony standing still in the living room with a smile plastered on his face. They were a team again. He enjoyed the satisfaction just standing there and smiling like an idiot for a full minute and then realized the cops might have been already on them, as he reported a stolen car.

"Kate! Pack your stuff! We have to leave!"

She emerged on the stairwell wearing just a towel and with a suspicious look on her face. Tony gulped at the sight.

"I... I reported a stolen car. I bet the cops are on their way..."

She sighed and quickly went back to her bedroom. In less than 3 minutes she was downstairs next to a still shaken up Tony, ready to leave.

"So what now, Bucky?"

"Hey, who said I'm the sidekick?"

"I do, Tony. Give me the keys. I'm driving."

* * *

R&R!!!


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N**: here's the 7th chapter.  
_

_Since Ziva makes a brief appearance in this chapter, I want to make clear that this fic is absolutely not going to be a "Ziva-bashing" kind of fic. I do like Ziva and she won't be the villain in this story._

_Also, if you know a good remedy to cure headaches, please share! I think there might be an elephant dancing on my head. At least it feels like it. _

_R&R!_

* * *

Tony was driving; and singing.

After a brief yet loud argument with Kate about who was going to be the driver, he had won. He had his badge and his driver's license, while she only carried a fake passport.

Even thought she perfectly knew that he had a point, Kate was still mad at him. He had reported the stolen car and got the police's attention, and now he was driving like a maniac. She not even knew where they were headed.

"Where are we going, Tony?"

He saw her looking out of the window and wondered what was on her mind.

"We're going back to DC."

Kate turned around with an angry look that made Tony gulped in fear. When she spoke, though, her voice was controlled and cold.

"I told you, DiNozzo, you are not bringing me back to Washington."

Tony sighed, stopping the car on the side of the road and looked at her.

"Kate, I promised you I won't 'turned you in'. I just want to take this car back to the airport and take my car so we won't have to worry about being tracked down by the rental car GPS' system."

Kate eyed him suspiciously. His tone was sincere and she could read in his eyes that he wasn't trying to trick her. She nodded.

He gave him a reassuring smile, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

"You should sleep a little on our way to DC. You look like hell."

She rolled her eyes at his not so nice final comment, but she knew he was right. God only knew in how long she didn't have a good night sleep!

Resting her left hand on his, she looked at him.

"Tony, tell me I can trust you."

He melted at the intensity her eyes emanated. He felt his heart rate increasing.

"You can trust me."

Kate caressed his hand with her thumb, grateful and happy - even if she would have never admitted it out loud - that he was there with her, and looked away from him, once again staring at the winter east coast landscape, and mumbled a shy '_thanks_' under her breath that not even herself was able to hear.

* * *

It took about three hours to get to Washington. As he parked in front of his apartment complex in Cleveland Park, just a few minutes from the NCIS headquarters, Tony noticed Kate was still asleep. He felt guilty while gently shaking her by the shoulders to wake her up.

Kate was peacefully enjoying a dreamless sleep when she felt someone shaking her by the shoulders. Her still sleepy mind reacted and she screamed a name.

"ZACH!"

Tony looked at her; her eyes were now wide open and filled with something that he couldn't quite describe. Maybe sorrow? Fear?

"Zach… where?"

It took Kate a while to realize where she was. Finding a pair of green eyes fixed on her hazel ones questioningly, she slightly blushed but she quickly recovered. Tony saw her eyes darkening to mask the feelings she had allow herself to show for a split of second. She was good.

He sighed, knowing that asking her who that Zach person was wouldn't have done anything but upsetting her, in that moment. He would have asked her later.

"Kate, we're here. We can stay at my place for tonight and leave tomorrow, early morning."

She didn't bother agreeing or disagreeing with him; she just grabbed her bags and headed towards the entrance, still slightly embarrassed for her unusual awakening.

He had to run to catch up with her.

Once inside his apartment, Kate carefully looked around. She was curious to know what kind of life Tony had. The place looked neat and clean; she found his taste in furnishing it tasteful. There weren't many pictures on the walls, which surprised her. What didn't surprise her was the big collection ov DVDs that were neatly ordered alphabetically on a big cabinet that took a whole wall.

Tony emerged from the kitchen, a beer in hand.

"Want something to drink?"

"I'll have a beer."

He nodded and grabbed another bottle from the fridge, opening it with his hand.

"Thanks."

Tony looked at Kate. She was deliberately examining his apartment almost as it was a crime scene. He didn't find it disturbing; he was too fascinated by how her now dark blond hair seemed to be capturing the last rays of sunshine to notice anything else. He wished the circumstances were different, cause if they were, he would have certainly made a move on her in that very moment. Still, he was still having troubles believing that she was there, right in front of him, alive, four years after everybody thought a bullet between the eyes killed her.

He must have looked like a moron, standing there lost in thought, because when he snapped out of his trance, he found her staring at him, with an amused grin on her face that made his ego grow smaller by the second.

She broke the silence.

"So you haven't settled down yet?"

Tony shook her head, smirking slightly. He thought about Jeanne and how that first attempt of his to a serious and committed relationship ended up. Nope, he hadn't definitely settled down yet.

"Nah… I got close, though. You? Do you have a jealous husband somewhere in this world?"

Kate mirrored Tony's reaction by shaking her head and smirking as well.

"No. Work always tends to get in the way…"

Tony nodded understandingly and pondered if it was the right moment to ask her who Zach was. He knew that she was reluctant to share anything personal, but he decided to give it a try.

He sat on the couch on the opposite side from where she was sitting.

"Who's Zach?"

He saw her tensing and nervously playing with the almost empty bottle of beer she was holding with both of her hands. He could almost see the wheels in her head turning, trying to think of a good excuse, and he also didn't fail to notice the resignation in her body posture as she turned around to face him to finally give him an answer to his question.

"He is… _was_ my fiancé."

Tony caught the pain on her features and understood that she didn't use the past tense simply because they decided to break things off.

"What about him?"

Kate let out a shaky breath. She had never talked to anybody about Zach.

"He was a doctor. What about that girlfriend of yours?"

Tony laughed at the irony.

"She was a doctor as well."

"Why did you break up with her?"

"What makes you think I was the one who ended the relationship?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders with an apologetic look. Maybe he had changed…

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything by that."

Tony didn't blame her for her thinking, but that didn't stop her comment to hurt him. Just a little.

"She was the daughter of an illegal arm dealer ad well, getting close to her was part of an NCIS assignment to get to her father, who eventually got killed. She blamed me for his father's death and asked me if anything that happened between her and me was real. I told her it wasn't because… it was better that way, you know?"

Kate felt the sadness in his voice as he shared that story with her. He definitely had changed, and she felt bad for making assumptions on his ended relationship so quickly.

"But you did love her, didn't you?"

"I did love her. I really did. It was meant to end badly. Took me a while to get over it, but I eventually did. What… what happened to Zach?"

Kate took a deep breath.

"He was murdered because of me."

She said it with a flat tone, like she was talking about the character of a movie.

Tony knew her too well to buy the act, and even thought she was trying hard to look unaffected by the event, he could read how much it was costing her to even let those words come out of her mouth.

"How?"

She looked at him slightly taken aback by the question and decided to answer. She felt like he actually cared.

"He didn't know I was a spy. He thought I worked at Mossad as a translator; we met on a train from Tel Aviv to Istanbul and it just happened. We dated for a while and after eight months he proposed. Then, six months ago as I got back to our house I found blood everywhere; someone had killed him by cutting him to pieces and left them all around the house. They thought he was a spy as well, and that he was trying to protect me by not collaborating."

"I am sorry…"

Tony studied Kate's face, sipping what remained of his beer. He couldn't believe they had just opened up to each other. Their communication usually was limited to playful banter, light flirting and teasing. He had always known that it was only their way to find relief from the drama that their jobs seemed to bring their way a little too often - to get through the day, and he had always known that if given the chance to have a serious conversation they would have found a connection that went way past beyond the lightness of their usual exchanges. Maybe that was the reason why they never gave it a chance; why they had so carefully avoided the unexplored waters; until then.

Kate nipped at her lip. What the hell was she doing? She was letting Tony in and that was the last thing she should have been doing. God only knew how lost she was feeling, how much she missed all the things that she used to take for granted… She didn't want to get attached to Tony; attachment was a privilege she had long lost.

Their thoughts we interrupted by a phone ringing.

"DiNozzo."

Kate looked at him as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out something.

"Ziva, I am sick. I was about to send in a fax."

There was a small pause.

"Listen, I gotta go."

He kept pinching the same spot.

"No, everything is fine. Just tell Gibbs I've got seasonal flu."

Kate could hear a sigh coming from the other end of the line.

"Thanks, David."

As he hung up the phone, he noticed Kate was looking at him with a smirk.

"Ziva David, huh?"

He laughed at her teasing tone, relieved that even after the serious conversation they had a few moments before things hadn't become awkward between them.

"Jealous, Katie?"

"You wish, DiNozzo!"

He stood up and took other two beers from the fridge and handing one of them to her. Kate accepted the beer and took a sip.

"I've met Ziva, you know?"

Tony laughed, taking it as a joke.

"Right, Todd…"

"I am serious. Of course she didn't know who I was. She met me as Rebecca Falk, over three years ago. It was just a very brief hands shaking, small smiles kind of moment. I work for her father, after all. I know she's good."

Tony felt a feeling that he couldn't quite recognized at the thought that she had been right there for Ziva to meet her, while on the other side of the world he was silently mourning for her death. Apparently Kate already knew that Ziva worked for NCIS. What kept her from sending them a message through her?

Kate, reading his thoughts, let out a small laugh.

"C'mon, Tony, was I suppose to write farewell letters to you guys and send her back as a mailman? Especially in the beginning they didn't even trust me enough to let me call to order a pizza! Let alone leaving me interact alone with the woman they were sending to the States to take my place!"

"It's not funny, Kate."

She playfully hit him with a pillow and changed the topic.

"Aren't you hungry, DiNozzo? 'Cause I'm starving!"

He smiled at her attempt to winning him over by promising him food.

"Sure, Katie."

He ducked as she threw another pillow at him, not appreciating the nickname.

"What do you in this place of yours, other than beer?"

Tony watched her moving around his kitchen and grabbing various ingredients to make who knew what. She looked comfortable and carefree, playing house there in his place. He could have got used to that. He really could have had.

* * *

R&R!


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N**: new chapter. Yay! I wish writing essays for my writing class was as easy as writing fics. Yes, college sucks, especially if you're constantly sick because of the cold weather. Yeah, I know I shouldn't bitch about NYC's weather since it's really not that bad, but this is my first real winter with snow, low temperatures and all... Well, I bet none of you is interested in my random blurbs. I feel like I'm blogging instead of writing a simple author note. I am awful. Whatevs. I blame it on the painkillers._

_Anyway, I hope you'll like it and you'll leave some cute and nice reviews. Yay to reviews! OMG, I should really stop popping painkillers, shouldn't I? Geez...._

* * *

Kate was having troubles falling asleep; every time she closed her eyes, all the memories that she wanted erase so badly, came back, filling her head with unpleasant images and making it hard for her to breath. She kept seeing the blood all over the furniture that she and Zach had chose together, the strong smell of rotten flash surrounding the whole house… And the note. The note written with her fiancé's blood. Shivering unconsciously, she decided it was no use to try to sleep.

Quietly walking out of Tony's bedroom, towards the big cabinet filled with DVDs, she smiled softly at the sight of Tony half asleep on the couch, shivering for the cold. She stepped closer, and she gently touched his shoulder.

He looked at her trying to reciprocate the smile, but sneezing instead. It was quite cold in the living room, she had to admit.

She laughed at him affectionately and took his hand, leading him to his bedroom.

"Come to bed, Tony. It's freezing in here."

He followed her and got into his bed in autopilot.

Kate chuckled. She was pretty sure Tony wasn't really conscious, because if he was, she knew that he would have made some kind of inappropriate remark at that point. After glancing at Tony's sleeping form for one more time, she got into bed as well and surprisingly fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

As Kate woke up, she felt the warm breath of another person on her neck and a pair of arms around her waist. She slowly and quietly turned around, just to find Tony, still sleeping like a baby, snuggled up into her. What surprised her the most, though, was that her arms were hugging Tony's tightly, almost as she was afraid of letting him go. Rolling her eyes, but unable to stop a smile from playing her lips, she pondered what to do. She surely wasn't expecting to find herself in that situation, first thing in the morning. She definitely couldn't deny it was a pleasant feeling, to wake up into Tony's arms, but that was definitely not part of her plans. Sighing silently, she decided to wait until he woke up, and let him make the first move.

Tony's alarm went off but he didn't make any effort to turn it off; he was far too comfortable to move. As he slowly became more and more conscious, he noticed he was hugging something – or someone. It was definitely a someone, because his pillows didn't feel that good to the touch and they surely didn't smell like… KATE!

He started panicking, now completely awake, but afraid to make even the slightest move. He vaguely remembered getting from the couch to his bed at some point during the night. He cursed himself. What was he supposed to do?! He had just realized he was snuggled up to a sleeping Kate Todd which definitely meant he was going to walk funny at least for a couple of days, as she would have probably hit his sensitive parts as soon as she woke up. As he thought of ways to get out of that situation without any major damage to his manhood he noticed that Kate's arms were hugging his. He thought if maybe, that would have made the situation better. After giving it some thought, he just opted for doing… nothing. He pretended to be still asleep, waiting for her to make the first move.

Kate was still pretending to be asleep as well. She could feel Tony wasn't anymore, since his breathing pattern had considerably changed in the past four minutes, and wondered if he had decided to do the same thing she was doing and let her be the one to make the first move. After a few minutes of thinking, she decided it was useless to keep pretending; after all she didn't want to waste time to think about something that was completely meaningless – _was it_? – for both of them. They had to leave Washington ASAP.

She slowly turned around to face Tony, who unfortunately chose that very moment to open his eyes again. He prepared himself to be slapped or hit or hurt in someway.

Kate had to restrain herself from laughing out loud in his face. She noticed his eyes were oozing fear and that made something inside of her melt. With a smile, she disentangled herself from his embrace and stepped down the bed.

"Good morning, DiNozzo. Lets get ready. We'll grab some breakfast on the go."

He nodded blushing slightly, shocked at her unusual reaction.

"Sure…"

As she left the room and headed towards the main bathroom, Tony decided that he needed to keep his feelings –wait, did he just say _'feelings'_?! – in check if he didn't want this to end badly. After all it was Kate that he was talking about. Jumping out of bed, he almost ran towards the shower in his ensuite.

In the meanwhile, Kate's thoughts were pretty much going towards the same direction as Tony's. In all honestly, she didn't even know why she was thinking about that little, meaningless accident in the first place. Shaking her head, she stepped in the shower. It wasn't definitely the moment to think about these things. She had more serious issues to deal with.

* * *

As he finished packing a few clothes and some other things that he thought could have been useful for their mission, Tony walked out of his bedroom. He found Kate in his living room, reading one of the very few books he owned.

Sensing his presence, she turned around.

"Tony, you know that you don't have to do this, right?"

He nodded stepping closer to her and placing his bag on the couch.

"I know I don't have to. I want to come. It will be like old times."

She stood up from the comfortable armchair and grabbed her bag.

"Lets go, then."

Tony followed his ex partner, taking his time to ogle her as she passed.

She was wearing one of his sweaters, that on her looked more like a dress given her petite figure, a pair of tight black pants and a pair of flats. She looked beautiful, despite her simple clothes and the lack of make-up.

While waiting for the elevator he glanced at her. He could see the determination in her eyes; he could see that those five years overseas head changed her; he could see that she was desperately looking for revenge. After giving it some thought he realized where he had seen that look before; it was the same look that he had seen so often in Gibbs' eyes, but that he would have never thought to see in Kate's. He felt the urge to kill whoever it was that had taken away the innocence and the compassion from her. He vowed to himself to give her the fate in humanity back.

Tony was driving while Kate was working on her laptop, a comfortable silence enveloping them.

Kate cleared her throat.

"I think I have a lead."

"So where are we going Katie?"

"Fort Worth, Texas."

"How long is it going to take to get there?"

"Long enough. We should stop in Nashville for the night."

He nodded, smiling. Kate smiled too. If they weren't trying to track down dangerous terrorists, she bet Tony would have been screaming 'road trip!' from the top of his lungs.

Closing her laptop she had a feeling of de ja vu. It really was like the 'good old times'. Tony driving and her on the passenger seat, checking data on her laptop or on her PDA. She wondered how her life would have been if she was still working at NCIS. That thought, triggered a series of images to take over he mind. Those people at NCIS had been her family, the only people she had ever completely trusted. She regretted her choice. She shouldn't have left, four years before. But what was done was done, and she knew that regrets only brought to self-loathing, and in that moment she already had her fair share of that and didn't need any more.

Looking at Tony completely focused on the road and lost in his own thoughts, she broke the silence once again.

"How's the rest of the team? I… I tried to check on you guys through the database, every now and then, but it's not the same as having first hand news."

Tony kept his eyes on the road and grinned. He could hear from her melancholic tone that she had missed them. A lot.

"Everybody's fine. McGee wrote a book; Abby is… well she's Abby, Ducky has always some new story to share and Gibbs is still the same. We're all fine. I mean, as fine as we can be, with a job like ours."

Kate felt weird. These people that once were the biggest part of her life, now sounded like strangers. How did that happen? She sighed.

"Good."

Tony felt for her imagining how harshly she had been taken away from everything and everybody that she had ever known without the chance to say goodbye.

"We… we missed you, Kate. It was hard to keep going, you know?"

She was surprised by his words. She knew how hard it had been for her, but she had never really thought about how hard it had been on them. They thought she had been murdered, after all.

"I missed you guys too. I really, really did."

* * *

Gibbs glanced at the clock. It was 9.00. He felt something wasn't right.

The director had informed him, two hours before, that Tony had sent in a fax asking a few days off because of medical reasons. Ziva had informed him afterwards that Tony had caught the flu, or at least that was what he had told her that previous day. Still, he couldn't shake away that gut feeling telling him that there was something wrong.

"McGee, call DiNozzo at home."

The younger agent did as told. He dialed Tony's number and waited. Nobody picked up. He hung up.

"Boss, he didn't pick up. Should I leave him a voicemail?"

"No, McGee."

Ziva looked at her boss. She caught his suspicious tone. She understood why; she had got the same feeling when she had called his partner the day before.

"Gibbs, I don't think Tony got the flu."

He nodded. He didn't think so either. As he pondered what the hell his senior field agent was really up to, an overly chirpy Abby made her appearance in the bullpen.

"Hey guys!"

Everybody proceeded to greet her, all silently wondering how she could be so full of energy at that time in the morning.

"Where's Tony?"

"He's sick."

Abby glanced at Ziva with a questioning look.

"Sick?"

Ziva nodded and wondered if the goth knew something that she didn't.

"Yes. He apparently got seasonal flu. Why?"

Abby raised her eyebrows surprised.

"Well, he called me pretty early on Saturday morning and asked me to trace the owner of an account from some coordinates that he had. I came here because I was curious and I wanted to know why he needed that…"

Gibbs looked at her, trying to find a reasonable cause for Tony to ask Abby such a thing. He doubted his request was work related and he was sure it had to do with his absence from work.

"Do you still have the account coordinates, Abs?"

She nodded, pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket and handing it to Gibbs, who studied it thoughtfully.

"Is this the name of the owner?"

She nodded again, not completely understanding her boss reaction.

"McGee, David, lets go."

The two agents looked at him questioningly.

"Where are we going, boss?"

"Tony's place."

* * *

R&R!!


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N**: Finally an update. I've been really busy with school and well, the fact that finals are coming up next week is never a good thing. I am going to update both of my fics as soon as I'll be done with this quarter - which means in 2 weeks. In the meanwhile, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. I am not really sure if I like it or not. I wrote it during my marketing class while I was supposed to work on an excel thing. I am such a good student... _

_Again, hope you'll enjoy it. Please, review. I love your feedback!_

* * *

"DiNozzo, open up!"

The three NCIS agents had been outside of Tony's apartment for the past five minutes. Gibbs was now pounding on the door, but no answer was coming from the other side.

Ziva gave McGee a questioning side-glance that he returned, perplexedly shrugging his shoulders as to tell her that he had no idea of what was going on either.

After a few more knocks, Gibbs lost his patience and after working briefly on the lock with his knife, he finally broke in.

As the three of them stepped into Tony's apartment they didn't notice anything that was really out of place. No sign of struggle, or anything odd that could that could make them suspect that something out of the ordinary might have happened there.

"McGee, check the kitchen. Bag everything that could be relevant. David, you check the bedroom."

The two agents quickly started inspecting the various rooms.

"Boss, there are four empty bottles of beer on the table. Should I bag them?"

"Yes, McGee. When you're done with that, check the trash."

The younger agent did as told, even if going through Tony's trash wasn't exactly what he had expected to be doing when he got to work that very morning. To him it seemed like there wasn't anything weird and he really didn't blame Tony for wanting to take a day off, since Gibbs had been particulary edgy during the past week and had them working over time.

In the meanwhile, Ziva was examining Tony's bedroom. The bed was undone and a small pile of clothes were scattered on the floor next to the walk in closet. Giving a closer look to the bed, she noticed some long dark blond hair. She scanned the bed with a UV light.

"Gibbs… Apparently Tony had company. No body fluids, though."

Gibbs walked into the bedroom and took a look to what Ziva was pointing. He saw the long dark-blond hair on one side of the bed and carefully picked some samples for Abby to examine.

"Boss! I think I found something!"

As Gibbs walked back into the living room and then into the kitchen, he saw McGee holding a piece of gauze stained with blood. He sighed as the younger agent bagged it and kept studying it trying to find God knows what just by looking at it.

"Ziva, check if Tony's car is still here. McGee, look for the manager of the building and get the tape from the security cameras."

The two agents walked out of Tony's apartment. Gibbs looked around. He noticed a piece of paper coming out of the book that was placed on the couch. He carefully lifted and slipped the piece of paper out of the book.

It was a boarding card for a flight from Washington to Indianapolis dated three days before. Tony's name was on it. Gibbs looked at the piece of paper wondering what the heck Tony went to Indiana for.

* * *

While the three NCIS agents were searching Tony's apartment, Tony himself and Kate were on their way to the south.

"I think I'm gonna buy a cowboy hat once we get to Texas."

Kate tried to hide her laugh at the thought of Tony wearing a cowboy hat. He noticed her amused look.

"What, Todd? You think I can't pull it off?!"

"Sure you can, DiNozzo; I just wish I had a camera. Nothing better than an incriminating picture, you should know that."

"Hah, very funny. Too bad there won't be wet t-shirts involved."

Kate hit his arm playfully. She found herself wanting to savor every single second of that familiar sensation that came from playfully arguing with Tony. For the first time in years, she felt home.

Tony gave Kate a quick look before getting his focus back on the road; from how natural it felt to interact with her it seemed like she hadn't been gone for the past four years. The playful banter still came spontaneously to them, and he couldn't be more relieved because of it. They had found their way back to their old dynamics in a way that just felt right. It was still them: Kate and Tony.

"Hey, you should put some gas in your car."

Tony followed Kate's gaze to the petrol gauge that had just started blinking, and nodded.

"We'll get out at the next exit. I could also use something to eat."

"Of course you could. You've gone… what? Two hours without eating any food?"

"Kate, I'm a man."

Kate raised an eyebrow and gave him a side glance.

"What are you implying by that?"

Tony didn't bother answering. He was pretty sure he didn't want to get into an argument with Kate about his unhealthy eating habits or about the fact that his remark might have sounded slightly sexist.

Kate kept looking at him with a raised eyebrow as he exited the freeway and approached a gas station.

Tony pumped some gas into his car and then headed into the small diner right next to the gas station, to get some food that Kate would have without a doubt defined "unhealthy" and "the kiss of death for his arteries".

Kate was waiting by the car, letting the wind tousling her hair. She looked at the landscape and smiled. It had been a while since the last time she had taken her time to actually appreciate the scenery surrounding her. These little things that once she had taken for granted, now seemed to be such a big deal for her.

Tony got out of the diner. He noticed Kate standing outside the car and looking like she was witnessing something spectacular, that he could obviously not see. He grinned and teased her.

"Admiring the world-famous Charlottesville landscape, Katie?"

She rolled her eyes at the pet name and at the fact that he had totally ruined her moment. Sighing, she got back into the car.

As she sat down, she noticed something was vibrating in the backseat. She turned around to check what that irritating noise was coming from.

Tony was still standing outside the car, trying to open the package of cookies that he had just bought. He was so concentrated into opening it, that he didn't notice Kate storming out of the car and head towards him with a threatening look.

Kate glared at Tony; she was livid. She suddenly feel stupid for thinking she could have trusted him not to tell Gibbs. The man, after all, lived for Gibbs' approval. Of course he was going to spill.

Tony confusedly looked back at Kate, unsure of what had happened in the last 30 seconds that could have caused her to have such an outburst.

He didn't have to keep guessing much longer, because Kate finally made him understand the reason for her sudden anger, holding his cell phone right in front of his face.

As he looked at the screen, he noticed the little icon that indicated he had eight missed calls. He slowly raised his hand to grab his cell phone from Kate's hand and checked whom the missed calls were from.

Gibbs.

He understood why Kate was mad.

"Listen, Kate, I didn't say a word."

She shook her had without saying a word and started walking away.

"C'mon, Kate! Can you at least let me explain?"

She turned around. He saw the anger but also the hurt that she felt and smiled softly. Then he turned off his phone and walked to the trashcan by the diner and threw it away.

Kate was still standing several feet away from the car, arms crossed. Tony walked in her direction and stopped right in front of her.

"When I said that you can trust me, I meant it. I am not tricking you. I not even remembered my cell phone was still in the car."

He felt uneasy at her silence. He wanted her to trust him; forgetting to turn off his phone had been a newbie mistake.

Not knowing what to say to bring her to talk to him again he decided to hug her. He felt her tense as he wrapped his arms around her and wondered if the whole hugging thing had been a mistake, but as he felt her relaxing and wrapping her arms around him as well, he smiled.

He stepped back and looked at her.

"No more newbie mistakes from now on. I promise."

She gave him a soft smile, feeling bad for doubting about his honesty; those fours years she had spent constantly watching her back and not knowing who her real friends were had drastically taken away her faith in humanity. She knew she should have had apologized to Tony, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she was sorry. Stupid pride, she thought as she let go of Tony and headed back to the car.

He followed her and got into the car as well.

"I've got your back and you've got mine. OK?"

She nodded.

"Tony, I…"

He could sense how hard it was for her to say those stupid three words. I am sorry. He knew their relationship wasn't defined by apologies and emotional moments; for some reason they felt like it was better to keep everything bottled up. He wondered if the fact of being so careful with words around each others was due to the fear of ending up saying too much; to spill things that maybe were better off unsaid and that were carefully masked by the playful banter they had grown so used to.

"Kate, that's okay. We are okay."

He started the car and drove off.

She glanced at him and felt grateful.

* * *

R&R! I really, really love when you guys leave a review! ;)


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N**: new chapter. I wrote this a few weeks ago and edited it this morning right before my final, so I really hope you guys will enjoy it since I decided to work on this instead of reviewing my notes. Oh well, I don't regret it. If you ever studied marketing, you know why I'd rather go through my fic than reviewing 20 chapters of boring data._

_I already wrote the next chapter as well. Maybe I'll edit it before my psychology final!_

_Hope you'll leave a review!!_

* * *

Gibbs was confused and he didn't like it; he wasn't used to it. He knew that his senior field agent hadn't just decided to take a day off as McGee firstly suggested; his gut was telling him that there was so much more than that. Waiting for Abby's lab results, he once again cursed mentally at the manager of Tony's apartment complex who had confessed the cameras situated all over in the building weren't really in use and were there just for 'good appearance.'

The phone on his desk rang and he picked up just after a fraction of second. He heard Abby's confused tone, asking him to head down to her lab.

As he hung up, he snapped his fingers as to say to both Ziva and McGee to follow him.

Abby heard the familiar 'ping' of the elevator, and turned around just in time to see the three agents entering her unusually quite lab. She looked at them, for the first time not knowing what to say.

Gibbs broke the silence.

"What have you got for me, Abby?"

The goth played nervously with the hem of her lab coat and then, after a sigh, typed something on the keyboard of her computer and three personal records popped up in the three screens on the wall.

Gibbs gave her a questioning look.

"Gibbs… You know I believe in forensics, right?"

The silver haired man nodded still quite not getting her point. The lab rat continued looking at the three agents standing right in front of her and sighed.

"Those are the results of the fingerprints on the bottles of beer you found in Tony's kitchen."

She typed something on the keyboard once again and two of the three profiles took the entire screen.

Gibbs eyes widened in surprise and confusion. McGee's expression mirrored the one of his boss.

_Anthony D. DiNozzo and Caitlin L. Todd._

The names were written in a bold font right above the pictures of Gibbs' senior field agent and his ex partner who had been murdered several years before.

Abby looked at the three agents almost expecting them to burst out laughing and tell her this was their sick idea of a joke. That didn't happen and the lack of reaction only made her even more nervous.

"Gibbs, what is this?"

Gibbs was silent. He didn't know what to make up of the new information he had just received.

"Do you have any positive matches on the DNA from the hair and the blood samples?"

Abby nodded. A new profile appeared on the screen, next to Tony's.

"The blood is Tony's and the hair belongs to well… I am not sure. I mean, I checked both our database and the international DNA database and I got these results, but Gibbs, look at the pictures…"

Gibbs was speechless. He blinked and looked at the screen once again, just to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. The picture was still there, so apparently his eyes were perfectly fine – or as fine as they could be given 'his age', as Tony liked to point out.

The pictures on the two files obviously belonged to the same person. In one picture there was Caitlin Todd during her times in the Secret Service while the other picture looked like a more recent picture of the same person. The face was exactly the same. The only different thing was the hair, which was now wavy, long and dark blond, just as the hair they had found in Tony's bedroom. The other difference between the two profiles occupying the screen was the name.

"Rebecca Falck, Mossad…"

As Gibbs read that name out loud, Ziva jumped slightly reminiscing something.

"Gibbs…"

The man turned around to face his agent.

"I… I think I met her. It was years ago, she had just started working for Mossad and I was about to leave to come and work for you. We just shook each other hands, but I could swear it was her. Is she… is she Kate Todd?"

Gibbs turned back to question Abby, looking for an answer. He didn't know much about forensics, but he did know that the same DNA couldn't belong to two persons at the same time.

"Yes, Gibbs. They're the same person. The DNA on the bottle of beer is a match."

She paused a few seconds.

"Gibbs, does this mean that Kate is still alive?"

The older agent didn't know what to answer.

"Abby, open Kate's record."

The goth started typing frantically, her heartbeat faster and her hands shaking for the excitement. She knew that DNA didn't lie and that the result she had got meant that Kate was very much alive, whether Gibbs was willing to admit it or not. Of course she understood his attitude towards the news she had just delivered to him and the team; for years they had all believed that Kate was dead and had grown used to the fact that was an irreversible situation. Being too positive about her being still alive could mean being deeply disappointed if it turned out she wasn't. The rational side of herself, didn't keep Abby from feeling the warm happiness inside that made her feel better than hundreds caf-pows.

The flow of positive thoughts permeating her mind was suddenly interrupted by a nasty sound her computer made as she tried to open Kate's record. She re-typed the information required, but the annoying noise and the warning on the screen didn't change.

McGee noticed Abby's confused look.

"It's classified?"

Abby nodded, still furiously trying to access the file.

Gibbs didn't quite know what to think. He didn't know what to make of the evidence he had just got from Abby. Kate being still alive was just wishful thinking, if he thought about it rationally, but then again, how did her DNA and her fingerprints ended up at Tony's place? And how was Tony's sudden disappearance was connected to Kate? Also the fact that her record had been classified had to mean someone was trying to hide something. It was just too much to deal with.

"Who classified it, Abs?"

"I will need some time to figure that out, Gibbs."

Gibbs sighed and turned around to leave the lab, followed by Ziva and McGee.

"McGee, help Abby with that computer thing…"

The younger agent nodded and obediently sat in front of a computer.

"McGee… Do you think Kate is still alive?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to answer her. He didn't want to keep her hopes up; he knew Kate's death had been hard on Abby and he also knew that making her believe that her friend was still alive, only to find out she wasn't, would have been like going through her death all over again.

"Abs… you know that this might as well be just a conspiracy, right?"

"Oh c'mon McGee! Who would go through all this trouble? I mean, fingerprints, DNA, Tony's weird behavior. It has to mean something! Tony wouldn't just take off and leave if it wasn't for a good reason!"

McGee sighed.

"You think Tony's disappearance has anything to do with Kate?"

"Duh! I mean, how would you explain the evidence that you guys found in Tony's apartment?"

"Well, then why didn't he say something? Why didn't he bring her back to NCIS?"

"Well, maybe there's something hinky going on between them, McGee…"

McGee was saved from replying with something that wouldn't have pleased Abby by Abby herself.

"I found it!"

McGee hurried by her side to see the name of the person who had classified the files and sighed. Gibbs wasn't going to like this.

* * *

Tony was still driving. He wasn't tired, but he had to admit his arm was starting to hurt. A lot.

Kate noticed him grimacing in pain, and gave him a concerned look.

"Tony, are you okay?"

He nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. He didn't want her to point out another reason to leave him out of her plan.

She sighed at his stubbornness.

"Seriously, Tony?! Are you _seriously_ gonna play the macho man thing with me? You got shot at just two days ago and you're only human."

"Kate, you asked if I was okay, and I told you I am. When I won't be okay, you'll be the first to know. Pinky swear."

Kate ignored his pinky pointed towards her.

"Hey! You have to intertwine your pinkie with mine to make it work!"

She let out a small laugh at his pretended outraged tone.

"Tony, lets stop for the night. It's already 5 PM and you've been driving for over eight hours."

"Hmm, Kate, if I didn't know you, I would think that what you just said was a subtle invitation… Are you in such a rush to spend a night in a room alone with me?"

Kate let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Good one, DiNozzo. What about you? Are you in such a rush to meet up with dangerous Al Qaeda terrorists?"

"I thought you were the one who was in a rush to do that."

"Well, I am not. Can we stop now?"

"Kate, I really am fine."

Kate rolled her eyes. He was so stubborn!

"Tony, I know you're fine. I just wanna rest a little. Can we stop?"

Tony gave her a side-glance and saw the concern in her eyes, feeling bad for not noticing it before. In that moment he saw that she really care about him, no matter how sarcasm-covered her words were, she really cared, maybe as much as he cared about her. That thought made him feel good but at the same time it scared him like hell for some reason that he couldn't quite recognize. That feeling, though, made him take the first exit on the freeway and head out towards the small town that seemed to be located just in the middle of the forest.

After driving for a few minutes, he spotted a motel by a gas station. He parked in the small parking lot turning to see if Kate was fine with spending the night there.

She shrugged her shoulders in response. The old self wouldn't probably even consider spending one minute in a dump in the middle of nowhere, but at the moment she didn't really care, as long as she had a bed and a shower.

Tony looked at the surroundings. It was almost dark and the temperature was probably around the lower 30s. It smelled like trees; trees and rain. He grinned as Kate took both of their bags out of the trunk and looked around.

Walking towards the reception, that was just a small room right next to the gas station, he realized that he needed to get to a bank first thing the next morning. Credit cards were easy to track down and he didn't want to lose Kate's trust again.

"Hey, I think I need to go to a bank tomorrow morning. To get cash, you know?"

Kate smiled at him.

"I have some cash…"

"Well, we need more than 'some' cash, don't we?"

"I have a few thousand dollars. I think for now they are going to be enough."

Tony looked at her in surprise. She knew he was about to ask her how she got that money so she just shook her head.

"Don't ask."

He sighed. He had started to understand that getting information out of Kate wasn't as easy as it used to. He couldn't go through her trash or her PDA, or just annoy her until she gave in. He came to the conclusion that, whomever trained her, did a good job. He decided to change topic.

"I've never been to Tennessee."

She smiled at his smart choice of not pressing the money matter any further.

"Me neither. And I never thought I would have had…"

"Why not? I bet there are so many interesting things to do out there."

"DiNozzo, if by 'interesting things' you mean charm local girls into your bed playing the city boy card, know that I'm not interested."

Tony grinned at Kate, who just rolled her eyes in response.

"No, Kate, that's not what I mean. I was thinking more along the line of camping, kayaking, fishing… you know the great outdoors!"

"Funny."

"I am serious, Kate. I mean, we could at least go kayaking!"

"You're worst than a five years old!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Oh c'mon Kate! Don't you feel like you need a break?"

Kate grabbed Tony by his good arm until his gaze met hers.

"DiNozzo, even if I do feel like I need a break, even if I'd give anything to just get away for a week and spend it entirely eating sea food, getting long massages, and relaxing on the beach, I also know that those things a luxuries I've lost long time ago. Can we drop this thing, now?"

"Oh c'mon, Kate! Take a chill pill. I can give you a long massage if you want one…"

Kate scoffed and got into the small room where a rather creepy guy was watching some old movie on the television, barely acknowledged her presence and distractedly pointed towards a notebook. Kate turned to Tony who grinned and then took a pen out of his pocket and wrote his name on the notebook, not sure of what to do after that.

Kate cleared her throat and the man looked up. He reluctantly stood up from his armchair and handed them a key.

"It's 30 dollars a night."

Tony quickly pulled the money out of his wallet, not caring about Kate's sounds of protest. He was the man after all, and he was secretly enjoying pretending to be the knight helping the damsel in distress, even though he perfectly knew that Kate could have kicked his ass any time and was far from being a damsel in distress!

Climbing the small set of stairs, they reached their room. It was small and it smelled like Chinese food. Kate noticed there was only one king size bed in the room, and even thought they had slept in the same bed the previous night, she still shook her head wondering why they didn't get two rooms instead of one. Her thoughts were interrupted by Tony's breath on her neck as he whispered something.

"You can take the bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

She stood still for a few seconds, a little bit shaken up by the pleasant shiver that ran down her spine at the feeling of Tony's breath on her neck. She then turned around to face him, and her eyes widened noticing how they were still standing dangerously close. She opted to take a step back.

"We are adults, Tony. We can both sleep in the bed."

That said, she grabbed her nightwear from her bag and headed to the restroom.

Tony followed her with his eyes and grinned. Now he knew that he wasn't the only one feeling butterflies in his stomach every time he and Kate were standing too close, invading their personal spaces; from her reaction he was positive that she felt those damn butterflies too.

* * *

R&R! I love some feedback! ;)


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N**_: I am sooooo sorry for the lack of updates! Things have been very hectic lately. I promise I will update both of my fics more often starting next week. Hope you guys will enjoy reading this chapter. Review are always appreciated!

_**A/N2**_: this might be completely irrelevant, but I found it pretty cool. I had to go to LA for a few days for my friend's graduation ceremony and I ran into one of my "old" LA friends that I used to hang out with when I just moved there back in 2007. We were talking about life and stuff and she mentioned that she was going to Vegas with some friends the next weekend. I asked her who she was going with and she casually said something like "You know, the old group. Mick P., Daniel G., Jessica H., Michael Bellisario & co...". Obviously the name Michael Bellisario rang a bell, so I asked her "Bellisario?" and she told me "Sure! Don't you remember him? We used to go to Cabana and Area with him when we were both underage. Remember? He used to put us on Sex Toys Dave's list..." After a while I remembered who she was talking about, and I was shocked to make the connection that the guy I knew as 'Michael the guy with the table I could sit at, at the club' was none other than "Chip" from NCIS... My friend also provided photographic proof that I wasn't allucinating and I felt like such an idiot for not making that connection sooner. Geeez, right? I bet he would think I was such a loser for writing fics about the show that his father created... Wow... how to feel like a total dork. Aaaanyway... on with the story.

* * *

It was Thursday night; three days had passed since Tony's disappearance. Gibbs sat behind his desk, glancing at the empty corner of the bullpen where Tony usually worked or, often times, pretended to. The bullpen was deserted. Everybody had already gone home. They didn't have any good leads.

McGee and Abby had managed to discover who classified Kate's record, but that didn't help in any way.

Gibbs sighed deeply and shook his head.

"Jenny, why did you this without telling me?"

The only other thing somehow relevant in the case, other than getting to know about Jennifer Sheppard's apparent involvement with Kate's case, was a video they had got from a service station. Abby had managed to trace the last place where Tony's cell phone had any signal, which brought them to the middle of West Virginia.

The images on the video, though, didn't do much other than confusing the team even more, if possible. They had watched and re-watched the same scene over and over again, trying to understand. But the images weren't telling them much. It was only Kate and Tony, pumping gas in the car, arguing and then hugging. Not a lot to work on, which frustrated Gibbs. He knew that the fact that Tony just decided to run away, for a still unknown reason, with the woman that presumably was Kate meant trouble. It meant that he was willing to take risks that a responsible man shouldn't have considered taking, and even though a part of Gibbs was proud of his agent's spirit when it came down to helping out someone in troubles without thinking about it twice, another part was absolutely mad for Tony not telling him – his boss – what the hell was going on, right away.

He glanced at his watch and noticed it was past midnight. He wondered if Abby was still in her lab; dialing the lab extension he waited. It didn't take long before the lab rat gingerly picked up the phone.

"Gibbs!"

"How did you know it was me, Abs?"

The goth grinned.

"Who else would be calling the lab in the middle of the night?"

Gibbs tilted his head on the side, admitting to himself that Abby definitely had a point.

"Did you manage to get the recordings from all the calls Tony received and made from his work phone on Friday?"

"Of course I did, Gibbs. I was waiting for you guys to come in tomorrow morning to let you listen to them."

"I want to listen to them now. I'll meet you in the lab in 15. I'm gonna get some coffee first."

He hung up the phone before Abby had the time to respond.

"Your wish is my command!"

* * *

Kate was still awake, reading the very few files that were still in her possession after she had been kidnapped. She looked down at Tony, who was snoring loudly.

God how annoying was that noise!

She kicked him under the covers and he muttered some incoherent words. She still wasn't sure if letting him tag along had been a good idea. He was a damn good agent and a good guy, too. She didn't want him to get involved like she did and ending up losing his freedom like it had happened to her. Sighing loudly she closed the file that she was holding and ran a hand through her hair. Being as quiet as possible, she sneaked out of the old motel room and walked towards the pay phone on the other side of the street. Glancing at her palm, she quickly dialed the number that she had previously scribbled on it, and then tried to erase the ink from her hand with poor results. Kate's futile efforts into getting rid of the ink on her hand were interrupted by a voice that greeted her from the other end of the line.

"Shalom."

"Jacob? Jacob, is that you?"

The man sighed in relief.

"Becca? Thank God you're alive. I thought they killed you… where are you? What's going on?"

"Listen Jacob… I need your help. I'm after the big fish right now. Rekem gave me a file before I was kidnapped hinting that the cell was planning something big. He said something about Texas but that's all I know. The information is encrypted and I can't do anything without the equipment."

"Becca… Rekem was killed right after you were kidnapped and all of his files were stolen."

Kate pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"What am I supposed to do, J? I can't go around knocking on people's doors hoping I'll be lucky enough to knock on the terrorist's."

"Where are you now?"

"I am back, J! They brought me back to the States."

"Listen… This has to stay off the record…"

"Oh c'mon Jacob! I am deeply undercover, in big shit and without a valid lead. Do you really think I am keeping anything on record for the boss to see?"

"Rebecca… This is dangerous. Rekem was killed because he knew too much, and you are the one he was updating about the mission. The only reason you haven't gotten killed yet is because they think they can use you as an exchange object with the American government or because they want revenge. My advice is… Turn yourself in. Go to the FBI. You'll be safer."

"Bullshit, Jacob! C'mon, we both know the kind of ramifications that something like turning myself in to the FBI would cause. I am not asking you to give me a way out. I am asking you to tell me all you know about this thing. I know Rekem told you... He was your brother!"

Kate sighed in frustration as a long pause followed and she had to reach in her pocket for some more quarters for the pay phone.

"Okay… You already know that according to Rekem's last update the big guy, the one we're looking for, is hiding in Texas. They got illegal immigrants to work for them in exchange of fake documents. We have no idea of what or who is their target, but we can safely say that the reason why they want you is personal. They probably know you are trying to track them down. You have to be careful. This whole thing my be just a trap to drag you to the wolf's nest."

"I will be careful, J."

"And unless you turn yourself in, don't break cover. Nobody has to know you're working with us."

Kate felt guilty. Even though Jacob was like a brother to her, she didn't want him to find out about Tony. She knew that the Israeli intelligence had a very well developed talent to get rid off people that they considered being a possible obstacle in a mission.

"I won't. I will try to contact Leah tomorrow to see if she can help me out with the encrypted files."

"Good. I'll contact her for updates, then."

"Good. Thank you, J."

"You are welcome, Becca."

"Shalom."

"Shalom."

Kate hung up the phone and shivered as a gust of cold wind hit her. Tucking her hands in the pockets of her jacket, she stood in the cold, facing the motel. The noise of a car passing by shook her out of her momentary trance. She walked back to the motel and quietly opened the door. As she closed it, she felt a gun pointed to her back and couldn't help but gasping in surprise and fear.

"Kate?"

She felt the gun moving away from her body as Tony turned her around and shook her by the shoulders.

"Where the hell were you, Kate? I was worried! You disappear in the middle of the night without any warning! What were you thinking?"

"Tony, stop it! You are hurting me!"

Tony, shocked, realized that he was still holding her by the shoulders and that the spots where his fingers were firmly grasping onto her tiny body would probably turn into bruises the next day.

"I… I am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know… I thought you wouldn't have woken up, you know?"

He nodded and closed his eyes for a brief moment to regain his composure. Kate lowered her gaze noticing his concerned look and feeling bad for not being able to tell him just how sorry she was for making him feel that worried.

"Tony, I shouldn't have had left just like that. I… I am… you know?"

Tony nodded in understanding, trying to hide the disappointment in her inability to say she was sorry.

"It's okay, Kate. Lets go back to bed. It's barely 4 AM."

Kate just stood there, feeling his silent disappointment yet the acceptance in his tone. She walked towards him and cupped his face in her hands, looking at him straight in the eyes.

"No, Tony. It's not okay. I need to know that you know that I care. I am not doing this to hurt you. It's just that it's been so long since I let myself completely trust someone and though I know I can trust you, I still cannot shake the feeling of suspiciousness off. But you have to understand that I care."

"I understand. Lets sleep now, okay?"

Kate nodded watching Tony walking back to the bed and laying there, almost instantly falling asleep. She followed his example and lay on her side, facing his back. Before drifting off to sleep, she softly ran her fingers down his arm and whispered those three words that for the past few years she had found so difficult to say.

"I am sorry…"

* * *

R&R!


	12. Chapter 12

Another update... Sorry it took so long! I am finally on vacation - back in Italy - and I think I might be able to update more regularly during the next 10 days. It's 4.23 AM here, and I am about to go to bed. I might edit this chapter properly as I wake up tomorrow, but I wanted to post it now because it's been sitting on my desktop for a few days already and I realized just now that I had not posted it here yet.

Please let me know what you think, if you're still reading! :)

* * *

An insistent knocking on the door woke Tony up. Stretching in the bed, he was surprised to notice that Kate wasn't there. Sighing he reached for the bottle of water on the bedside table, trying to shake off the disappointment of waking up and not finding her sleeping next to him, without a warning, for the second time during the same night. As he put the bottle back on the bedside table, he noticed an unfolded piece of paper that read: "_I'm getting breakfast. Be back soon_." He smiled tracing with his thumb the outline of the smiley face that Kate had drawn feeling for some unknown reason his heart beating faster, and stood up to open the door.

"Katie, why didn't you take the keys with…"

Before he could finish the sentence he was silenced by a wet cloth that was violently placed onto his mouth, while two strong arms, that had taken him by surprise, held him firmly and prevented him to defend himself. After a brief struggle, the chloroform started to kick in and he lost consciousness.

Kate walked back to the crappy motel room carrying a bag with some junk food in one hand and trying to balance two cups of scalding hot coffee in the other. She was surprised to find the door unlocked. She took her knife out of its holster cursing under her breath for not bringing along her gun. She carefully opened the door and looked around the room. There was no sign of Tony. Being as quiet as possible she headed towards the bathroom slamming the door open and looking around. Not noticing anything out of the ordinary she frowned, heading back to the bedroom. It was then that she noticed a piece of wet cloth right next to the door. She carefully picked it up and brought it closer to her face to examine it; the strong and bitter smell of chloroform pervaded her nostrils.

"Dammit!"

With growing frustration she gathered hers and Tony's stuff as quickly as she could and then headed towards Tony's car, throwing everything in the trunk with anger. She sat behind the wheel but soon realized that she had absolutely no leads, so she walked defeated towards the reception.

"Hello."

A sleepy receptionist nodded at her as she approached his desk.

"I am staying in room 14."

The man nodded again.

"My friend told me he was coming by to see me this morning. Any chance anyone came asking for Rebecca Falk? You know, I was out getting breakfast…"

"A man came before."

Kate waited for the man to add something, which he didn't."

"Can you tell me how he looked like? Did he have an accent?"

"He was wearing a cap."

"Anything more specific?"

The man shook his head and got back to his crosswords.

"Listen, I need to watch the recordings from the security cameras."

"Are you a police officer?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

The man looked at her suspiciously.

"Can I see your badge?"

Kate rolled her eyes and grabbed Tony's badge from his bag, and after skillfully covering the picture with her thumb, quickly showed it to the man, who seemed convinced enough.

"You can watch the footage in the backroom."

Kate nodded and followed the direction the man was pointing at, with her eyes. She then walked suspiciously towards the small door and glanced at her watch. It was 8.30AM. After making sure there was nothing out of the ordinary in the small room, she sat down in an old chair and re-winded the three tapes with the footage from the three different cameras placed outside the motel and the gas station adjacent to it, back to about 7.30 AM. She looked at the three screens. She saw herself leaving the room at 7.42 and heading towards the small diner on the other side of the street; she saw a black sedan parking right in front of the motel and a man, whose face was hidden by the baseball cap that he was wearing, getting into the reception, only to exit very few seconds later to walk towards hers and Tony's room. She saw the suspicious guy standing in front of the door for a while before finally knocking on it for quite a few times; she saw Tony opening the door only to be assaulted by the other man and getting knocked unconscious by the chloroform soaked cloth that had been pressed on his mouth and nose. She then witnessed the man, easily picking up her partner's sleeping body, carrying it and placing it in the trunk of his sedan and then driving off, apparently heading back north-east. She quickly wrote down on her hand the license plate number of the car, unsure of how to track it down by herself.

Sighting loudly, she took her head in her hands biting her lower lip until she felt the taste of blood in her mouth. She didn't know what to do, and she hated that Tony was in danger because of her. Composing herself, she left the motel and got into the car. She started driving towards the same direction the man in the black sedan had gone, hoping that Tony was still in one piece.

* * *

Ziva glanced at her boss as he drove in silence the. They were driving from the airport in Indianapolis to the Todds' house to talk to Kate's mother. After listening to the phone conversation between her and Tony, they decided to hop on the first flight to Indiana to question the woman and get a hold of the tape that had started it all.

Ziva broke the heavy silence turning to the backseat to look at McGee who was absently staring at the scenery outside of the car window.

"Were they close?"

McGee looked at his colleague frowning his brows. She explained.

"Tony and Kate. Were they close?"

The young agent shrugged his shoulders, unsure of how to answer.

"They argued a lot, but you could tell they cared about each other."

"Tony never talked about her…"

McGee found himself once again short of words and shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to say about that. Gibbs exhaled loudly.

"You never get over the death of your partner."

Ziva ran a hand through her hair feeling slightly guilty for trusting Ari many years back. McGee sensed how hard it still was for Ziva to deal with the fact that her half brother had brought such pain into the lives of the people she now considered her family, and rubbed her shoulder affectionately, smiling.

"You would have liked Kate. She knew how to keep Tony in place."

Ziva smiled back at him, thankful for making her understand that he didn't have any hard feelings towards what the Israeli intelligence had caused.

"She must have been quite a girl."

"She was… is…"

"Abby told me that Kate stayed with Tony when he got the plague."

McGee nodded, his mind going back to the day when Tony had opened that damn letter back in those fateful days of pre-summer 2005.

"She did. She could have got infected, but she stayed… That was Kate, you know?"

"Tell me something about her."

"She was caring and stubborn and professional and a damn good agent and hundreds of other things that I will never get. One minute she was crazy worried about Tony, the next she was threatening to castrate him."

Ziva gave him a small smile, catching the slight melancholic tone in his voice.

"Well, apparently she's still alive, so I might even get to meet her. As Kate, not as a Mossad officer."

"Do you really think it's her?"

Gibbs grunted from the driver's seat and the two agents exchanged confused looks.

Ziva noticed the freeway exit and pointed it to the older agent.

"We are almost there."

McGee tilted his head and handed the case file on his lap to Ziva who opened and went through it once again.

"Kate had listed Tony as her emergency contact, back in 2004."

Gibbs explained.

"It's not uncommon to list a co-worker as an emergency contact, especially if your family lives out of state."

"Tony never mentioned that?"

McGee shook his head, wondering how close his two colleagues used to be and if he hadn't been observant enough to notice something that could indicate more than a simple work partnership. Kate and Tony had always been a mystery to him, and even thought he always thought that their banter was just a façade to cover the fact that they deeply cared about each other he really had bought Tony's act. He really thought Tony had completely moved on, but the recent events showed him that that really wasn't the case.

Gibbs stopped at a red light and allowed himself to get lost in thought. He felt slightly guilty for imposing on Kate's family like he was about to do, but he knew that Tony and Kate – especially Kate, wouldn't have taken unnecessarily risks, if there was a safer way and he was determined to find what had brought Kate to fake her own death and kept her away for over 4 years and why DiNozzo had decided to take off and follow her in whatever crazy thing she was planning on doing.

* * *

Not too far from the NCIS team, Kate had stopped driving and was now parked in front of another motel in the middle of nowhere, blankly staring at a pay phone. After giving it some more minutes of thought, she finally grabbed the receiver and dialed a number and an extension that once used to be, oh so familiar to her.

The chipper voice of a woman greeted her.

"NCIS, Abby's lab."

She took one deep breath, gathering the courage to speak.

"Abby…"

The pause following that one word she had said seemed to last forever to her.

"Kate?"

She could feel the emotions in her friend's voice and that brought tears to her eyes.

"It's me, Abby."

Unable to hold it together any longer, she broke down and started sobbing. On the other side of the phone, the goth lab rat listened full of worries her friend crying.

"Kate… What happened? What's wrong? Where are you?"

The ex NCIS agent had to bite the inside of her mouth to stop shaking so violently and controlling the emotions that had recently been under display way too often, according to the standards she'd had in the past four years.

"I need your help… I know I have no right to ask for it now, but they took Tony and I don't know where to start and I would never forgive myself if he'd get hurt because of me…"

Abby listened to the other woman, feeling her pain and not even bothering to trace the phone call.

"What do you need, Kate?"

Kate felt extremely grateful in that moment and realized that she had been an idiot not to ask her friends' help before. Even thought years had gone by and even thought she lacked a proper explanation, Abby was still there for her. Glancing to her hand, she quickly read the license plate's number to Abby, who ran it through the database.

"I am sorry, Abby."

The lab tech smiled, just happy to hear her friend's voice again.

"You are alive, Kate. That's all that matters."

Kate cracked a small smile. A noise in the background informed her that Abby had run into the information she needed.

"I have an address and a name. I can try to see if the car has a GPS system, but it's gonna take a little longer. If you call me in about 3 or 4 hours I might be able to give you some coordinates."

Kate thanked her friend and wrote down the information she provided.

"Thank you, Abby. You are the best friend I could ever ask for…"

"I miss you, Kate… Promise me you and Tony will be back her unharmed."

Kate sighed.

"I promise Tony will be back there unharmed in no time. I miss you too, Abs."

Before the goth could reply, Kate hung up the phone, not wanting to make promises she could not keep.

* * *

R&R, please!


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N**: _I know it's been forever and I'm really sorry! I don't even have a good excuse to justify the lack of updates. And I also know that this chapter kinda sucks; sorry about that, too. The good thing is that I already written the next chapter and that is way better than this - at least I think it is. I hope you guys are still reading this! I fully intend to finish this story._

_Anyway, hope the new year is treating you well. What is your resolution? One of mine is to update my stories more often. I'm trying! :P  
_

_Did you hear that **Sasha Alexander** had baby #2? _

_Did you notice how handsome is **Michael Weatherly**? I mean, seriously!_

_As always, read and review! xoxo_

* * *

Kate was driving recklessly through the grey landscape, heading towards New York, following the only lead she had managed to get with Abby's help. She rolled down the car window to breath some fresh air and clear her thoughts. Her pulse was racing and some tears were stubbornly running down her cheeks; the cold air was blowing painfully on her tears-covered cheeks and she couldn't help but feeling the most alive she had felt in quite a while; rolling the window of the car as far down as it went, she took deep breaths of stingy cold air that made her shiver.

She had been driving for almost six hours but she wasn't showing any signs of fatigue; she was on a mission and she just wanted to succeed and get Tony back. As much as she claimed she was just annoyed by him, she perfectly knew that she would never be able to live with herself again if anything had to happen to him because of her. Not only because she knew that he utterly trusted her when it came to working on the field, but also because her feelings for him ran way deeper than she let out. She wasn't fully aware of how to classify the raging emotions that the man was able to awake in her, but she was sure it meant trouble. She'd rather to stay away from any kind of human contact that had the possibility to become a source of emotional pain for her. She put up a strong shield to cover up her insecurity. Her weapon was a well placed pre-emptive strike; the "I'll hurt you before you'll hurt me" philosophy had worked quite well for her so far. Sure, she had allowed herself to let her guard down from time to time, but she had never felt as vulnerable as she felt with Tony. She was fully aware of how dangerous letting her mind wander through that line of thoughts was. If she were wiser she would have just pushed it all somewhere deep in her brain where her darkest dreams and desires were, almost forgotten, without a chance of coming to surface ever again. She just was not able to do that with Tony. Seeing him after so long had definitely affected her in a way she didn't realize it had until that very moment, when he was in danger and all she could do about it, was hoping to save him before things got completely out of control.

As she crossed the New Jersey state line, she let herself indulge in thinking that maybe, just maybe, she would have been able to get her life back. After all her secret wasn't a secret anymore. That promising thought, was ruined by the her more rational side that didn't fail to remind her that she had walked out of that life a long time ago, and that nothing had stayed the same. People had moved on and there was nothing left for her anymore. Or was there?

It was almost 10 PM when she reached the small building in Queens where Abby had managed to trace the kidnapper's car. Frowning at the dark surroundings and the deserted street, she stepped out of the car, grasping the knife in her belt holster with one hand and grabbing her glock with the other. She silently crossed the street and took a few seconds to study the surroundings. She noticed the rusty sign warning the tenants that the premises had abnormally high levels of asbestos.

"Welcome back to America," she said with a smirk.

With a smooth movement she managed to climb on the crumbling and rusted fire escape on the side of the building. Trying to be as quiet as she could, she looked through the windows of the first of the three floors. She couldn't see much, but from the visual she had, it appeared a sleeping family occupied the first floor. Not a threat, she decided. Climbing up the shaky stairs, she made it to the second floor. A dim light flickered in the middle of the room, but there were apparently no people in the unit. With a well-placed kick she broke the window and sneaked into the apparently empty apartment.

She started looking around the place; bottles of beer and bullet cases were scattered on the floor. There also was a cloth with what she assumed was anti septic. After clearing the whole place, she went back out from the window and proceeded to climb the last flight of stairs leading to the third floor. She heard the voices of people arguing and tried to steal a glance of what was going on without being seen.

She immediately spotted Tony tied up to a chair in a corner. Two other men were standing on the other side of the room, speaking in Arabic. She couldn't understand everything that they were saying, but from the bits she caught, she understood that the reason of their disagreement was what to do with Tony.

As she looked inside again her gaze met Tony's, who widened his eyes in a mixture of shock and relief. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to find a way to get herself and Tony out of the situation alive. Not having a plan, she did the only thing she could think of at the moment hoping that those two men were the only ones who were in the building to guard her ex partner.

She took her gun out of the holster and fired aiming at the window. The glass broke in thousand pieces as her two opponents turned around caught by surprise by the unexpected noise, holding their weapons and taking aim. She fired two shots and one of the men dropped dead while the other had the time to fire back before getting shot twice in the middle of the chest.

* * *

**R&R!**


	14. Chapter 14

New chapter. I know I am the worst at updating stories, but please! I swear you're gonna get some good TATE stuff soon. Some users have sent me messages asking to have Tony and Kate get together already. I am absolutely a TATE shipper, but I also feel that a relationship between those two has to develop organically. If it happens right away, where's the fun? Also I am trying not to write the characters __too much__ out of character. I can't really imagine either Tony or Kate just being all "I will love you forever and ever" just out of the blue. I'm not making sense, am I? If you'd like to give me some heads up about the whole TATE development storyline, feel free to PM me ;)

Also, as always, thank you for reviewing and sending me messages. I promise I will try to update again as soon as possible. Maybe tomorrow? Enjoy this chapter for now! Reviews and criticism are always appreciated. xos

* * *

Tony watched the scene unfolding in front of his eyes, unable to do anything to help Kate out. He saw her promptly shooting the first man with a precise double tap to the chest, and quickly redirecting her aim to the second terrorist who, startled by the sudden attack, didn't have the time to take aim properly but still had time to fire once at Kate before dropping dead on the floor. He saw the bullet hitting her right arm, blood spilling from the wound. Kate eyes widened in shock, as she instinctively brought her left hand to the wound to contain the blood loss. She started feeling dizzy and took two deep breaths trying to gain the strength to get to Tony and free him from the ropes tying him to the chair. She took a few tentative steps, ignoring the increasing pain. With a swift move she took her knife from the holster and with shaky hands cut the ropes bounding Tony's hands. As his hands got freed, Tony took the knife out of Kate's hands and proceeded to cut the ropes tying his feet. He quickly took off his jacket using it to stop the rather copious amount of blood spilling from the gunshot wound on Kate's arm. She tried her best to steady her voice before speaking.

"I'm fine."

Tony carried her to the chair he just vacated and carefully examined the wound. It wasn't fatal but the bullet had still gone through her arm.

"Tony, seriously. I'm fine. It's just a flash wound."

Tony shook his head.

"No. We need to go to the hospital. Even if we manage to stop the blood loss if this is not treated properly it will most likely get infected. We need to prevent that."

Kate nodded weakly. It scared Tony that she didn't even try to argue with him; it meant she was seriously in pain. He carefully helped her stand but as he noticed the color draining from her face as she got up and tried to take a few tentative steps, he decided to just scoop her up, carrying her out of the rusty door and down the stairs. He saw his car parked across the street and hurried to get Kate in the backseat. Looking for something familiar to tell him where he was, he started driving, until he saw a sign directing him to the Mount Sinai Hospital. He sighed with relief and hurried into the emergency entrance. Carrying Kate inside, he took out his badge.

"Federal agent! My wife has been shot. She needs help!"

Two nurses hurried to call the doctors, who proceeded to take Kate inside and much to Tony's dismay, out of his sight. He was left with some paperwork to fill. He sighed. Insurance fraud: 10 years in jail; maybe 3 with parole. He felt helpless as he stood there, watching the clock on the wall slowly moving. It was 4 in the morning when a doctor finally came out calling his name. He stood up his heart pounding in his chest, all the worst possible scenarios passing through his head.

The doctor, who Tony thought looked like he belonged to some low budget sitcom from the 90s, cleared his throat before introducing himself.

"I'm doctor Lawrence."

Tony nodded impatiently trying to sound as polite as he could.

"Yes, yes. How's … my wife?"

Dr. Lawrence touched the bridge of his nose as lost in his thoughts before answering.

"She was in pain so we had her sedated. The effects should be wearing off right now. It was a flash wound so a full recovery can be expected in about eight to ten weeks. We recommend she spends the next 24 hours here under observation. Her condition is not critical but due to the type of injury we will need to contact the authorities…"

Tony interrupted the man shaking his head.

"There is no need for that. I am a federal agent. That's my partner and my wife."

The doctor sighed.

"It doesn't matter. It's standard procedure…"

"I understand. Can I see her now?"

Dr. Lawrence studied the young man in front of him, then called a nurse.

"Nurse Dale, could you show Mr. Dinozzo his wife's room?"

The nurse gingerly nodded, smiling at Tony and asking him to follow her. They stopped in front of a door.

Nurse Dale opened the door as quietly as she could.

"She's resting now. You can stay here until they come for rounds."

Tony forced a smile past his lips and hurriedly got into the room.

Kate was lying on a bed, looking very pale and very exhausted. He sat down next to her bed, timidly taking her hand and holding it. Her eyes slowly opened. She blinked a few times and looked around. She smiled weakly at Tony and he squeezed her hand.

"Do you need anything?"

She shook her head, her voice hoarse.

He hated to worry her, but he knew they had to keep moving.

"We have to leave soon."

"I know."

"I told you were my wife. Showed my badge. Yelled to a couple of doctors. Lied once or twice filling insurance papers… You know, my usual Tuesday night routine."

She grinned.

"Way to keep your cool, Dinozzo."

She tried to sit on the bed, fighting the wave of dizziness the painkillers had provoked. She took a few deep breaths.

"Okay. How are we gonna get out of here?"

He shrugged.

"Haven't thought it thru yet…"

"Dammit... I need some clothes."

Tony nodded and stood up.

"I could go back to the car and get you some stuff."

Kate grabbed his hand with her good arm.

"No. Don't leave me here."

Tony gave her a flirtatious smile. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Mind out of the gutter, Dinozzo! Now… Call a nurse. And get me a glass of water."

He pushed the button on the side of Kate's bed to call a nurse and then got out of the room to get a bottle of water. When he got back, after less than 10 minutes his eyes widened and his jaw almost hit the floor.

"Kate, what the hell have you done?"

Kate turned around and pain caused by the sudden movement showed in her features. That didn't stop her from continuing what she was doing even under Tony's disapproving look. After quickly recovering from the shock, he walked over to her and grabbed her by her left elbow, turning her around to face him.

"Kate, you just gagged, tied and stripped a nurse out of her scrubs!"

The nurse looked at him. Panic showing in her eyes and muffled sounds coming from her gagged mouth.

"Tony, help me getting this on. Don't look!"

She grimaced as he tried his best not to touch her injured arm while helping her into the baby blue scrubs she had just stolen. Once she was sure she looked half decent she held Tony's arm and with wobbly legs walked towards the door. Faking confidence she walked, as fast as she could in her condition, to the pharmacy at the end of the hallway and asked for a painkillers refill. She signed a few papers with her left hand trying to not make it look like a 4 years old first attempt at writing.

She walked back to Tony and didn't fail to notice the distress he was obviously feeling.

"Tony… You don't have to do this."

He just kept walking next to her, til the exit, to the parking lot and finally to the car.

"Tony. Talk to me."

Turning around to the passenger seat he looked at her and saw the guilt in her eyes. He gulped.

"It's okay, Kate."

Kate ran her hand through her hair and sighed. Then she turned to him again.

"No, it's not. It felt great until now. It felt familiar, like old times. Except it's not like old times. You are taking big risks here. I won't let you throw away your career. You can pretend it doesn't matter, you can pretend everything is gonna be okay, but it's not. You can't follow me around and fight my battles. I can't ask you to do that. It's not fair…"

Tony grabbed her hand, maintaining eye contact.

"You just saved my life. You got shot. You were forced into a new life. You were kidnapped. _That's_ not fair. Me, being with you, here, following you and doing whatever it takes to get you out of this mess, it's right. _This is right_."

Kate squeezed his hand fighting the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Thank you."

He smiled at her wishing he could just hold her and make it all go away. Still, he didn't move, and just stared at her for another couple of seconds before nodding meaningfully.

"Always."

He drove away from the hospital parking lot, still smiling.

* * *

Gibbs was sitting on his hotel bed, unable to sleep. Standing up, he walked to the window, looking at the early morning Indianapolis sky. He sighed replaying the conversation he had with Kate's mother the previous night. Watching the tape, knowing how Tony had just took off without telling him anything, learning that Kate was most likely still alive, living under a new identity, was just too much to take in all at once. The past few days had managed to rethink everything he thought he knew. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of his cell phone.

"Gibbs."

He paused. Director Vance didn't sound happy.

"Gibbs. We were just contacted by the NYPD. Your agent has been accused of some serious…"

He cut him off.

"NYPD?"

"Yes. This is not gonna be good for NCIS."

"What happened?"

As Gibbs listened to what his agent had supposedly done, mixed feelings ran through him. He was angry; angry with Tony for not asking his help, angry with Kate for the same reason and angry with Jen for hiding everything that she had hidden from him, and bringing it to her grave. He couldn't help it but being relieved, too. He knew that as long as Tony and Kate were together they would have done anything in their power to keep each other safe. Sure, what Tony was doing was probably going to be a career killer, but he also knew that he would have reacted the same way if put in Tony's position. He wasn't paying attention to what Vance had to say. He didn't like the situation Tony had put him in, but he trusted his agent. He absent-mindedly hung up to Director Vance angry complains; something about gagging a nurse and tying her to a chair. He probably had misheard it. After a loud sigh he decided it was time to wake up what was left of his team.

* * *

Reviews make me smile!


	15. Chapter 15

Short-ish chapter. I wrote this and the next chapter on my ipad while I was tanning on the beach. Needless to say, it got me a sunburn on only half of my body. Oh well...

I'm hoping to be able to edit and post the next chapter before the end of the month. I just need some motivation. I'm a procrastinator, if you haven't already figured that out. Haha!

Hope you'll enjoy this. Reviews and criticism are always appreciated.

* * *

Kate woke up to the sound of Tony singing. She slowly opened her eyes and bit her lower lip. The pain in her arm made her wince; Tony noticed she was awake.

"I put two painkillers in the cup holder. Here's some water."

She nodded gratefully and took the two pills, swallowing them with a big sip of water. She patiently waited for the pills to kick in and after a few minutes she felt the drowsiness enveloping her, and had to blink her eyes a few times to regain focus. She studied the surroundings. Tony was driving through the winter landscape, probably heading north. She didn't recognize anything familiar.

"Where are we?"

Tony took his eyes off the road for a few seconds and turned to her.

"We're on our way to Long Island."

She looked at him questioningly.

"Long Island? As in New York State's Long Island?"

He nodded.

"The doctor said you need some time to recover. You need to rest. I know a place where we can stay."

She frowned.

"I don't need to recover. I'm fine."

He let out a small, teasing laugh.

"C'mon, Kate! You can barely keep your eyelids open. A little rest will do you good."

"Tony…"

"Besides, I could use some rest, too."

She rolled her eyes but didn't have the strength to argue. They painkillers were kicking in and she wasn't going to fight their effect. When she spoke, her voice was heavy with sleepiness.

"Whatever you say, bossypants…"

He smiled and kept driving. They weren't very far from their destination.

* * *

It took Tony other 40 minutes before reaching the gate of a big house in a small, deserted beach village, where it was obvious people only vacationed during the summer season. He got off the car and looked around; so many years had gone by since the last time he was there, maybe 20 or 25. He was just a kid, then. He unlocked the rusty lock with a key he found hidden in a plastic seashell under some decorative rocks, right next to the entrance. It was still where his mother had left it. He sighed at the memories that flashed through his mind and got back in the car where Kate was still asleep. He drove through the aged gates and the trees that had considerable grown taller since the last time he had visited. After parking by the small fountain in front of the house, he unloaded the few possession he and Kate had brought along and proceeded to bring them inside the house.

He was not surprised to see white sheets covering the furniture; it gave the house a ghostly look, one that didn't fit with the happy memories he had from the time he had spent there during his childhood. He knew for a fact that his father had hired a maid many years back to take care of the house and keep it in a decent condition even though nobody lived there, so he wasn't surprised to breath in the sterile smell of cleaning products that reminded him of a hospital room.

After making sure everything was in place, he walked out on the front porch, with the intention to wake Kate up. His brows furrowed when he noticed she wasn't in the car. He looked around, finding her after a few seconds. She was sitting on a stone bench, by the small lake in the corner of the garden, which had once been home to a small duck his mother had bought him at the town summer fair – the only pet his father ever allowed him to keep.

He walked towards her and sat down, facing the opposite direction. She turned her head to see him deeply breathing in the salty smell of the sea coming from the nearby beach.

"Whose house is this?"

He looked down and then turned around to face her. Shrugging his shoulders, he tried to sound casual, as if that place didn't hold any special meaning to him.

"It was my mom's…"

Kate felt the emotions coating Tony's voices and realized that anything she could have said to compliment the house would have probably sounded frivolous for a place that obviously meant so much to him.

"Oh…"

"You can ask, you know?"

She rested her head on his shoulder.

"It's okay."

He absent-mindedly started twirling around his fingers a stray lock of hair that had escaped her loose ponytail.

"It's just… I never talk about her. And sometimes it seems unfair to her memory."

Kate smiled sadly at him.

"It's not. Some people rather keep their fondest memories private so that they won't be spoiled. But if you ever want to share, I'll listen."

Tony closed his eyes remembering himself as a little kid, running around the lake while his mom sat on that very bench reading a book and looking at him lovingly.

"This is the last place I've seen her alive. She was already sick, but one day she just came to pick me up from boarding school and drove straight to this house, without saying anything to my father. We spent a week here, playing in the pool and resting under the trees. Then my father came; he drove me back to Vermont and my mom went back to Connecticut. She was hospitalized a few days later, and she died after a month."

Kate's eyes widened at the revelation. She knew Tony's mother had died when he was very young and that that event had affected him deeply, but she never imagined he would have shared something like that with her.

"I'm sorry, Tony. I really am."

He kept playing with her hair.

"She was sitting on this very bench while my father drove away with me in the backseat, begging him to let me stay. When I saw you from the house, sitting on this bench it felt… strange."

Kate straightened up and looked at him concerned.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disrespect… I just got off the car to get some fresh air and saw the bench and assumed it was fine for me to sit here…"

He gave her a genuine smile and saw her relaxing a little.

"It's fine. Really. It's just that you reminded me of her a little, and that threw me off balance for a moment."

Kate lightly touched the bench they were sitting on with the tips of her fingers.

"It must have been hard to lose someone so important at such a young age."

Tony shrugged.

"We survived it, my father and I. We learned to cope in different ways."

"She would have been proud of you, you know?"

He grinned.

"Kate Todd just paid me a compliment! Miracles do happen!"

She smiled, rolling her eyes at his attempt to lighten the mood, but she played along.

"I blame it on the painkillers. They still haven't worn off."

He laughed standing up and taking her hand in his to lead her to the house. He stopped midway, a fond smile still playing his lips.

"My mom… She would have loved this: using this house as headquarters while on a mission to bring down dangerous terrorists. She always said this house needed an adventurous story."

Kate freed her hand from Tony's and turned around to look at the sun disappearing over the horizon, taking a deep breath that smelled like freedom, she allowed herself to feel carefree for the first time in a long time. An adventurous story, indeed.

She turned around with a content expression plastered on her face.

"Lets go inside. It's getting cold. I'm expecting you to cook dinner!"

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